Goodyers End Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Further improve the quality of teaching and outcomes for pupils by:
  • ensuring that teachers provide the most able pupils with work that is sufficiently challenging
  • extending and embedding the good practice that exists within school in the use of questioning to deepen pupils’ thinking
  • ensuring that pupils are provided with more opportunities to develop their problem-solving and reasoning skills in mathematics lessons.
• Further improve leadership and management by:
  • ensuring that the curriculum provides pupils with more opportunities to develop their skills and knowledge in foundation subjects, such as history and geography
  • developing the monitoring and evaluation skills of leaders of the foundation subjects.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The headteacher has demonstrated an uncompromising drive to ensure that all pupils are well supported to succeed academically and feel valued and cared for. She has high expectations of all members of the school community and actively promotes the school vision of ‘big hearts, open minds’.
• The headteacher took swift and decisive action to address the decline in pupil outcomes that had occurred following the previous inspection. She identified where teaching was less effective and developed well-thought-out and demanding improvement plans that identified the action that needed to take place. She received support and challenge from the governing body and the local authority.
• The headteacher has established an effective senior leadership team who share her aspirations and expectations for the pupils at the school. Leaders undertake a wide range of monitoring and evaluation activities, including scrutiny of pupils’ work and regular observations of the quality of teaching. All monitoring and evaluation activities are closely aligned to the most pressing priorities for the school. The findings are used to determine how successful the school’s improvement work is and to plan the next steps. Leaders of English and mathematics can clearly demonstrate how they have improved teaching and learning within their areas of responsibility.
• Leaders have developed an assessment system that enables them to make good use of the information teachers gather to monitor the progress and attainment of pupils. They use this information well to identify where teaching is not fully meeting the needs of pupils. Leaders have used the partnership with local schools well to provide opportunities for teachers to compare and moderate their assessments against those of other schools.
• Teachers and other staff value the professional opportunities that leaders have provided for them. Training, using external expertise where appropriate, has been provided in the teaching of writing, mathematics and reading. Newly qualified teachers spoke appreciatively to inspectors about the support that they have received. Leaders have shown imagination and innovation in their approach to ensuring that the people appointed by the school match the needs of the pupils.
• Provision for disadvantaged pupils is good. Leaders commissioned an external review of this aspect of the school’s work and used the findings to make changes to how they met the needs of this group of pupils. Leaders ensure that the specific barriers to learning for these pupils are identified and understood by teachers and other staff. Pupil premium funding is used well to provide additional interventions and support, including from trained teaching assistants. Funding is used to enable all pupils to take part in visits that stimulate their interest in learning, such as to ‘Kidzania’ in London and ‘Conkers’ adventure centre. This demonstrates the school’s commitment to ensuring equality of opportunity for all.
• Leadership of provision for pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities is good. Strong systems are now in place for the early identification of pupils’ needs. Leaders ensure that the additional funding for these pupils is used well to provide additional support, including one-to-one assistance from members of staff. Leaders have sought and acted upon advice from external agencies, including an educational psychologist and behaviour support specialists, to understand best how they can support vulnerable pupils.
• Leaders have placed a high priority on supporting pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils are encouraged to recognise and celebrate other people’s talents and abilities, including through achievement assemblies. Pupils’ opinions are sought and valued by leaders. For example, pupils were encouraged to contribute their views on how the school could improve further through a pupil self-evaluation. This is being used alongside leaders’ documents to plan future improvements. Pupils are well prepared for life as citizens in modern Britain and recognise how democracy should work for the benefit of all.
• Pupils’ learning is enriched through a good range of extra-curricular activities and clubs. These include computer, cookery and dance clubs. A significant proportion of pupils now attend one or more of these clubs on a regular basis.
• Leaders ensure that the primary physical education and sports funding is used well. The school is part of a consortium with other local schools and takes part in a good range of competitive sports, including cross-country, football and netball. The subject leader has worked alongside other teachers to develop their confidence and competence in leading games activities, such as gymnastics. There is a strong focus on extending pupils’ understanding of how to live healthy lifestyles through taking regular exercise and making sensible choices about what they eat.
• The local authority took appropriate action when they identified that outcomes were declining at the school. They set up a task group that met regularly with governors and helped to establish and support the current, effective leadership team.
• Leaders have rightly focused in recent years on improving teaching in the core areas of pupils’ learning, including reading, writing and mathematics. They have established a curriculum that is planned well to cover all statutory requirements, across all subjects. Leaders are aware that further development work is needed to ensure that pupils can have opportunities for investigative work in topics in subjects such as history and geography. They have plans in place to enable this to happen, but these need further action to be fully effective. Leaders of the foundation subjects are at the early stages in developing their skills in monitoring, evaluating and developing teaching and learning within their areas of responsibility.

Governance of the school

• Governors have a good understanding of the local context of the school and are ambitious for pupils to achieve highly. They worked effectively with the local authority when they identified that there had been weaknesses in leadership that were having a negative impact on driving improvement. They took a measured approach to the appointment of the headteacher and have supported her and other leaders in implementing the changes that have improved teaching and learning for pupils.
• Governors use their expertise and knowledge well to monitor all aspects of the school’s work. They are regular visitors to the school and use these visits, and reports from school leaders, to monitor how pupils’ outcomes compare with those of other schools. They ask searching and challenging questions of leaders that demonstrate their understanding of how additional funding impacts on the achievement of groups of pupils, including those who are disadvantaged.
• Governors ensure that management of teachers’ performance is used effectively, both to recognise particularly strong practice and to identify where teaching is not having sufficient impact on pupils’ outcomes.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• A nurturing and supportive ethos is at the heart of the school’s work. There is a strong culture of collective responsibility for ensuring that pupils’ safety and well-being are of utmost importance. All staff are well trained in recognising signs that pupils might be at risk and understand how to record and report any concerns. Leaders encourage staff to take the approach that ‘nothing is too silly to report’.
• A team of senior staff with responsibility for safeguarding meet regularly to review arrangements for protecting pupils and to monitor the provision and support for those who are particularly at risk. Leaders are diligent in ensuring that outside agencies fulfil their responsibilities in addressing any child protection issues.
• Leaders have ensured that training is relevant and regular. For example, all staff have received training on how to protect pupils from the threat of radicalisation and extremism. Pupils are provided with good support in understanding how they can keep themselves safe through personal, social and health education lessons.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Leaders have established a set of ‘non-negotiables’ that provide teachers and other staff with explicit direction on what is required for teaching, learning and assessment. As a result, there is now a common approach to teaching and it is now securely good.
• Teachers have high expectations of pupils. They ensure that pupils are aware of what they are learning and the reason for the activities. Pupils commented during the inspection that ‘teachers make learning fun.’ Relationships between pupils and adults are extremely positive.
• The teaching of reading is good. There is a systematic approach to the teaching of phonics. Teachers are accurate in their modelling of sounds and provide opportunities for pupils to use their knowledge of sounds in reading and spelling words. All classes undertake regular guided reading sessions that help pupils deepen their understanding of the meaning of the text and how to apply inference and deduction skills. Each classroom has a recently resourced reading area, stocked with books that the pupils have been involved in choosing. The library now has a wide range of fiction and non-fiction books that are used by pupils, both for enjoyment and for finding information.
• Teachers have increased opportunities for pupils to undertake extended, independent pieces of writing. Pupils are required to use their spelling, grammar and punctuation skills accurately in their writing. Pupils develop a cursive style of writing from key stage 1 upwards and are awarded pen licences when their written work is sufficiently well formed and presented.
• Teaching assistants are used well to support the learning of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities. They adapt tasks to the needs of the individual pupils and provide clear guidance on how to undertake an activity.
• A wide range of well-planned interventions and booster sessions are provided for different groups of pupils, and these have a positive impact on their learning. For example, pupils in Year 6 willingly attend before-school sessions that address any gaps or weaknesses in learning in English and mathematics.
• The teaching of mathematics has improved significantly and teachers use subject knowledge well to ensure that pupils are secure in developing a depth of understanding of age-appropriate numeracy and other mathematical skills. However, opportunities for pupils to apply this knowledge in problem-solving using reasoning are not as securely in place across the school. This limits pupils’ opportunities to think deeply and make independent decisions about application of skills.
• While teachers provide pupils with tasks of different complexity in most lessons, they do not consistently ensure that the level of challenge for the most able pupils is sufficiently demanding. Leaders are aware that this aspect of teaching can be improved further.
• There is some extremely effective use of questioning from teachers that requires pupils to explain their thinking and give well-thought-out answers. For example, pupils in a Year 6 class responded with enthusiasm to questions about how to find missing angles in a variety of shapes. They were encouraged to formulate their own questions and demonstrated a love of learning. However, there are occasions when some teachers do not use questions as well and accept answers that require too little depth of thinking from the pupils. Leaders are making increasing use of opportunities for teachers to observe and learn from the good and outstanding practice that exists within the school.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils are polite, well mannered and show pride in their achievements. This is demonstrated through the care they take in the presentation of their work and the highly positive comments that they make about the school.
• Leaders place an extremely high emphasis on the pastoral care that the school provides for the pupils. The establishment of the ‘Hide-Out’ room provides vulnerable pupils with a calm, nurturing environment at lunchtime that helps them cope with their emotions and feelings. Staff, led by the family learning mentor, set clear boundaries for these pupils and also provide them with opportunities to discuss their concerns and frustrations. Other pupils commented positively about how this was beneficial to all pupils.
• Pupils are supported very well in understanding how they can keep themselves and others safe. School safety representatives meet with school leaders to identify any areas where further improvements could be made. Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe online. They know about the need to keep passwords secure and to be wary of befriending people they do not know on social media.
• Pupils say that incidents of bullying are now rare in school. They have a clear and accurate understanding of what bullying is and know the impact it can have on others. They are appreciative of the work that leaders have done to address any incidents that do occur. They know that that there is always someone to talk to and make good use of the ‘worry boxes’ in classrooms to voice concerns.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils show positive attitudes to learning. They concentrate on their work and ensure that lessons are not disrupted by poor behaviour. Pupils appreciate the rewards that are in place for positive behaviour, including ‘dojos’, and also understand that sanctions are applied fairly by members of staff if standards of behaviour drop.
• Pupils’ behaviour outside of the classrooms is good. They walk sensibly around the school buildings and hold doors open for other people. Breaktimes and lunchtimes are well supervised and there are spaces where pupils can engage in physical activities like football, and other parts of the playground where they can talk quietly with friends. There is a good range of outdoor equipment, including a trim-trail, and pupils use this sensibly, waiting to take turns.
• There is a consistent and calm approach to the management of behaviour in school. There have been occasions when leaders have used exclusion as a result of extreme and unacceptable behaviours, but these measures have been appropriate and used sparingly.
• Attendance has been slightly below the national average in recent years, particularly for disadvantaged pupils. School leaders have strengthened the systems for promoting good attendance, and this has had a positive impact. Pupils are rewarded for high levels of attendance and parents are regularly reminded, including at parents’ evenings, of the need to ensure that their children attend regularly and on time. These measures have had a positive impact on overall attendance, which has risen considerably this academic year.
• The very large majority of parents who responded to the online questionnaire, Parent View, said that their children were happy at the school. Parents spoken to during the inspection echoed this view. A small minority of parents expressed some concerns over behaviour, but these were not reflected by the views of pupils and evidence gathered during the inspection.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Outcomes have improved significantly over the past two years across the school. The proportion of pupils at key stage 1 who achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics in 2017 was at least in line with the national average. The proportion working at greater depth in these subjects was above the national average. This had not been the case two years ago.
• Outcomes for pupils at the end of key stage 2 have also shown a sustained improvement over the past two years and were also in line with national averages in reading and mathematics and above in writing in the 2017 national assessments. These pupils had made good progress from their starting points in school.
• Evidence gathered during the inspection, including from scrutiny of pupils’ work in books, observations in lessons and from the school’s own assessment information, shows that pupils who are currently in school are making good progress, particularly in English and mathematics. The high expectations that teachers have of pupils and the cohesive approach to teaching strategies have resulted in marked improvements for pupils across the school. There are no significant differences between the attainment of boys and girls.
• Detailed identification of the specific barriers to learning for disadvantaged pupils and the implementation of strategies that match their needs has resulted in significantly improved rates of progress for these pupils. Differences in their outcomes against those of other pupils nationally have greatly diminished. In several year groups, these pupils are now achieving more highly than their classmates.
• The proportion of pupils that attained the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics check was above the national average. This had also been the case in 2016. This is a marked change from three years ago. The systematic approach to the teaching of reading that is now in place has had a clear impact on the progress that pupils make in early reading and writing.
• Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities make good progress from their starting points in school. Staff intervene quickly to ensure that pupils are well supported and learning activities are matched accurately to their needs. Gaps in learning for these pupils are narrowing well.
• Pupils’ work across other areas of the curriculum shows that they are provided with good opportunities to apply writing and mathematical skills and knowledge in the topics that they study. Pupils make good progress in physical education and music. The majority of pupils achieve well in science. However, depth of knowledge in subjects such as history and geography is less secure.
• Outcomes for the most able pupils are improving. However, the proportion that are working at the higher levels in reading and mathematics by the time they leave the school in Year 6 is still below the national average.

Early years provision Good

• There has been a clear and ongoing improvement in outcomes for children in the early years. In 2017, the majority of children achieved a good level of development. This was a marked change from three years ago when less than one fifth of children were at the level of development usual for their age by the end of the Reception Year.
• Most children start in the Reception classes with skills and knowledge that are below those that are typical for their age, particularly in language and communication. As a result of good teaching that is matched well to individual needs and interests, the majority of children make strong progress in the early years provision and are well prepared for their move to Year 1.
• Teachers and other staff help children to settle in quickly and confidently to the routines of school life. Adults ensure that children feel cared for and valued, and relationships are extremely positive. Children learn to take turns and share, and to listen when other people are speaking. Adults promote children’s personal development well and set high expectations for behaviour. As a result, children show consideration and respect for each other and behave well.
• There is a strong and effective focus from adults on developing children’s skills in early reading, writing and mathematics. During the inspection, children were observed listening with rapt attention as a teacher modelled sounds in a phonics lesson. Children quickly learned how to accurately copy the sounds and then wrote them accurately in words on whiteboards. Teaching assistants intervened appropriately to give additional guidance with letter formation to children who were experiencing some difficulty.
• The indoor and outdoor classrooms are used extremely well to promote and stimulate children’s interest and development across all the areas of learning and are well resourced. Children are encouraged to show a curiosity and interest in the world around them and to consider how they can keep themselves safe in a range of situations. For example, during the inspection, children were observed in the ‘forest school’ area, toasting marshmallows over an open fire. Adults reminded children of the safety measures that they needed to follow and encouraged them to explain what they could see, smell and taste. All children were fully engaged in their learning and demonstrated increasing confidence in speaking and listening.
• Leadership of the early years is good. Leaders have ensured that professional development is matched to the needs of individual teachers and teaching assistants and have provided opportunities for them to observe good practice in other schools. Monitoring and evaluation is used effectively to identify how provision can improve further.
• Leaders ensure that additional funding is used appropriately to support groups of children, including disadvantaged children and those who have SEN and/or disabilities. As a result, these children make the same good progress as their classmates. When necessary, additional advice is sought and acted upon from outside agencies, including speech and language specialists.
• Parents are very well supported in their children’s learning. Teachers involve parents in the initial assessments and this information is used to ensure that staff have an accurate understanding of each child’s starting point. Parents can access information about their child’s progress through an online tracking system. Staff have led workshops for parents on the teaching of phonics and provide a weekly newsletter for parents about life and events in the Reception classes.
• Safeguarding practice in the early years provision is of the same high quality as in the rest of the school. All welfare requirements are fully met.
• Leaders recognise that there are occasions when some staff could use questioning more effectively to encourage children who are reluctant to speak and answer in more extended sentences. They are increasing opportunities for these staff to observe good practice from other teachers, both in school and in other early years provision.

School details

Unique reference number 130897 Local authority Warwickshire Inspection number 10037887 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 4 to 11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 377 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Mark Lovick Headteacher Angharad Rees Telephone number 02476 364448 Website www.goodyersend.warwickshire.sch.uk Email address admin2634@welearn365.com Date of previous inspection 28 February–1 March 2013

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• Goodyers End Primary School is larger than the average-sized primary school.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is above the national average.
• The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups is below that in most schools.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is above the national average.
• There are two classes in each year group.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics for pupils in Year 6.
• The previous headteacher retired in 2014. Her successor left the school in April 2017 after a prolonged period of absence. The current headteacher was appointed to the post in September 2017. She had been undertaking the role of acting headteacher since October 2016.

Information about this inspection

• The inspectors observed pupils’ learning in 27 lessons or parts of lessons. A number of these observations were undertaken with the headteacher.
• The inspectors looked at work in pupils’ books and listened to pupils read. They met with a group of pupils. The inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour at lunch and breaktimes, as well as in lessons.
• The inspectors looked at a range of documentation, including the school’s checks and records relating to safeguarding, child protection and attendance, records of how teaching is managed and the school improvement plans.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher, three assistant headteachers, the special educational needs coordinator and the early years leaders. The lead inspector met with three members of the governing body, including the chair of the governing body. He had a telephone conversation with a representative from the local authority.
• Inspectors took into consideration the 53 responses to the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View. Inspectors met parents at the start and end of the school day. They considered the 32 responses from staff to a questionnaire.

Inspection team

Adam Hewett, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Marie Conway Ofsted Inspector Emma Titchener Ofsted Inspector