Broadheath CofE Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Raise achievement still further by ensuring that:
  • teaching provides frequent opportunities in lessons for pupils to develop their mathematical reasoning skills the acquisition of pupils’ language skills is developed to enable them to reason mathematically and deepen their thinking.
• Further develop the role of middle leaders so they have the time and resources to monitor teaching and outcomes in their area of responsibility.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The headteacher’s leadership has brought much-needed stability and a clear sense of purpose to the school community. Leaders have an accurate view of the school’s strengths and priorities. As a result, current pupils receive a good and improving education.
• The headteacher has the respect of governors, staff, parents and pupils. All parents who responded to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, said they would recommend the school to others. Many parents praised the improvements to the school since the last inspection. Typical comments included, ‘Mr Hackley is a wonderful headteacher who is enthusiastic and made some great changes to the school.’
• Staff are proud to work at the school and there is a team spirit. Staff who responded to the staff survey were overwhelmingly positive about the leadership of the school. Comments included, ‘The current leadership has had a stabilising and motivating effect on staff and pupils. The school is a happy place for both children and staff.’
• Regular checks of pupils’ work in books, thorough analyses of assessments and regular visits to lessons ensure that teachers and support staff help pupils to make good progress in a range of subjects.
• The procedures by the headteacher and governors to manage staff performance are effective. Professional development, tailored to the needs of teachers, has improved the quality of teaching, learning and assessment since the previous inspection so they are now good.
• The middle leadership role is less developed as staff do not have sufficient time to undertake their roles. As a result, middle leadership does not contribute fully to the school’s monitoring of teaching and outcomes.
• Leaders provide pupils with an interesting, broad and balanced curriculum. Pupils gain good knowledge and skills across a range of subjects and themes which motivate the pupils well.
• The school’s strong promotion of caring values underpins the good development of the pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Topics such as life in an Indian village develop pupils’ awareness of other people’s beliefs and cultures.
• The school’s values reflect the promotion of British values. Assemblies provide frequent reminders of these. For example, pupils are keen to debate moral dilemmas and how it helps with their empathy and tolerance. Older pupils are happy to help around school and take on extra responsibilities, such as being a school councillor or helping during assembly or breaktime. In these ways, leaders ensure that pupils are prepared well for life in modern Britain.
• The school’s inclusive ethos means that excellent guidance is given to pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Pupils’ needs are quickly identified, the provision managed well and, consequently, pupils make good progress from their individual starting points.
• The number of pupils eligible for pupil premium funding is small and a high proportion of these pupils have joined the school recently. The additional funding is used well to ensure that eligible pupils, including those arriving later than the normal times, make good progress from their individual starting points.
• Effective use of the primary physical education and sport premium has increased pupils’ involvement in sports, both in school and in local sports tournaments.
• The local authority has challenged and supported the school effectively in recent years. Guidance from advisers has proved beneficial, for example, in helping staff to strengthen the teaching of writing throughout the school.

Governance of the school

• Governance is effective. Governors have responded well to the recommendations of the previous inspection. They have also acted on advice from the local authority, through regular project meetings, to strengthen the way they check the work of the school and plan its future development.
• Governors ask searching questions of school leaders, including, for example, how school leaders develop good teaching and learning and manage staff performance effectively. As a result, governors have a good understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses.
• Governors use the information they have obtained from school leaders and from their own visits to the school to secure a clear overview of the school’s work. This has helped them to play a key role in planning the strategic development of the school.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. The school has systems in place to maintain the safety of pupils.
• Staff make every effort to ensure that the safety and welfare of pupils is a priority. Staff are aware of their duties and receive training and updates.
• The caring and nurturing culture which leaders have created ensures that pupils feel safe. Staff know individual families well and have close links with them. Parent View responses confirm that pupils feel safe in school.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• The raised expectations of leaders have resulted in improvements to the quality of teaching and assessment across the school. These increased expectations are confirmed by the work in books, visits to lessons, discussions with pupils and the school’s own regular checks on the quality of teaching. The pupils’ good learning stems from typically good teaching across the school. Both of these aspects represent significant improvements since the last inspection.
• Leaders’ improved checks of provision and pupils’ outcomes have been accompanied by focused training opportunities for staff. This is especially evident, for example, in the way the strengthened teaching of writing has raised pupils’ interest, confidence and skill in writing.
• Staff know pupils well and set challenges to develop pupils’ knowledge, skills and understanding in a range of subjects. For example, in a Year 4 and 5 music lesson, all the pupils in the class were playing the cornet and were challenged to read musical notation at a high level.
• Teachers have strengthened the focus on developing the pupils’ ability to write descriptively and expressively by using stimulating texts. The most able, in particular, are making full use of a wide vocabulary to enrich their writing. This was seen, for example, during English in a Year 4 and 5 class, where pupils discussed the meaning of ‘intensity’ when discussing characterisation.
• Pupils develop a consistent writing style with accurate form and structure. The quality and range of writing on display around the school show that pupils achieve well in writing in a range of subject areas.
• In mathematics, pupils are making good progress in developing their calculation strategies and mental arithmetic skills. There are some good examples of pupils being given opportunities to develop their mathematical reasoning. However, this is not consistent in all classes. Some pupils need to be supported to further develop the acquisition of language skills to enable them to reason mathematically and deepen their thinking.
• Leaders have worked productively to embed new systems for assessing pupils’ progress without levels. They have responded well to outside support, including the local authority, and assess pupils’ progress accurately.
• The teaching of reading and phonics is a strength of the school’s work. This is because children in the early years and key stage 1 are systematically taught how to use sounds to read unfamiliar words.
• Teachers have worked hard to develop a consistent whole-school approach to giving pupils precise guidance about how to improve their work. This is working well across the school.
• Homework activities link carefully to pupils’ learning in class. Pupils are motivated by the opportunity to research a topic. For example, in Year 2, pupils researched about life in an Indian village and then presented their findings to the school community.
• Teachers have excellent relationships with pupils. Classrooms are calm and purposeful. Pupils use the prompts and information on classroom walls to help them when they are stuck.
• Teaching assistants make an important contribution to pupils’ learning. They have a good understanding of how to meet pupils’ needs, especially those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, or who are disadvantaged. This enables pupils to make good progress.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils share very supportive relationships with adults and with each other. They respond very positively to adults and are eager to share ideas and help each other learn. For example, pupils collaborate very well and show good attitudes to learning. Older pupils describe how they are ‘challenged with no glass ceiling’.
• The school’s work to keep pupils safe is good. As a result, pupils feel safe and all parents who responded to the online questionnaire said their children were safe and well looked after in school.
• Pupils know about bullying and its many forms. They say, ‘bullying does not happen’ and are confident that any issues would be sorted by adults.
• Pupils on the school council take their responsibilities seriously. They are proud of how they raise funds for charities, currently, for example, undertaking a sponsored run to raise funds for a charity which supports diabetes.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils are extremely polite and friendly towards visitors, staff and each other. Staff have high expectations of behaviour and pupils of all ages understand and obey school rules. Older pupils are excellent role models for younger pupils and support them at playtimes and lunchtimes. Pupils also diligently follow class rules such as taking turns and listening to each other.
• The supportive way pupils and adults relate towards each other is evident in the community atmosphere engendered during whole-school assemblies. During an assembly on Ramadan, pupils showed their good knowledge of British values such as democracy, tolerance and respect.
• Nearly all parents who responded to Ofsted’s online survey agree that pupils are well behaved. The inspection found that behaviour is typically good. The impact of the school’s values can be seen in the good behaviour that pupils demonstrate both in classrooms and around school.
• The school’s records of pupils’ behaviour show low levels of inappropriate behaviour. There have been no exclusions in recent years.
• Overall attendance has improved. Staff work well together in encouraging pupils’ appreciation and enjoyment of school, which results in above-average attendance.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• The progress made by pupils has risen since the time of the last inspection. Pupils currently in the school are making good progress from their starting points in reading, writing and mathematics.
• The proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check was above the national average in 2016. Pupils are confident readers because of the promotion of reading throughout the school.
• The proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard at the end of key stage 1 was broadly average in 2016 in reading, writing and mathematics. In the current Year 2, pupils’ attainment is predicted to be higher in reading, writing and mathematics in 2017 than it was in 2016.
• The proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard at the end of key stage 2 in 2016 in reading, mathematics, grammar, spelling and punctuation was above the national average. Writing was broadly in line with the national average. In the current Year 6, there are a number of pupils who have joined the school in recent months. The proportion of pupils on track to achieve a high standard is above the 2016 national average figure.
• The school’s current assessment information and work in pupils’ books confirms the view that pupils are making good progress across the school in reading, writing and mathematics.
• The number of disadvantaged pupils is small and a high proportion of these have entered the school recently. Evidence gathered during the inspection shows that disadvantaged pupils are making good progress from their individual starting points.
• Current pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress from their individual starting points. This is because of well-focused support and effective teaching by teachers and other adults.
• The most able pupils are identified through close monitoring of outcomes to ensure that they are on track to make good progress.
• Parents and pupils express very positive views about learning and progress. The comment of one parent that, ‘The staff are hugely committed and my children have made incredible progress since being taught there’ was typical of many parents who responded to Ofsted’s online survey. Pupils are well prepared for their next steps as they move through the school, ready to start their secondary education.

Early years provision Good

• The early years is very well led and managed and continues to be a strength of the school. It is underpinned by staff sharing their expertise and collaborating well to further improve the learning experiences for children.
• All staff work closely together to keep the children safe and to make sure that welfare procedures meet statutory requirements. They sustain a calm and encouraging atmosphere which strongly promotes children’s self-confidence and enjoyment of school.
• Most children’s skills on entry are typical for their age, although this varies from year to year. Teaching is good and enables children to make good progress from their starting points, during their time in the early years. This is evident in the above-average proportion of children reaching a good level of development and being well prepared for future learning when they enter Year 1.
• Children are developing their phonic skills well from the start of pre-school and throughout Reception. As a result, they make good progress in early literacy skills.
• The early years provide a wealth of opportunities for children to explore, engage in and enjoy. Areas of learning, indoors and outdoors, are well organised and inviting. For example, children were absorbed in working collaboratively to make cakes with sand in the sandpit.
• Staff create a purposeful environment where children develop strong personal and social skills, grow in confidence and are happy. Children in Reception were keen to show the inspector their literacy work. They were pleased to discuss the foods they had written about for ‘the thirsty caterpillar’.
• Both pre-school and Reception work well together to ensure that transition for the youngest children in the school between the early years and into Year 1 is effective. As a result, children are well prepared for Year 1.
• Parents are engaged in their child’s learning from the start. Parents who responded to the online survey were highly positive about the experiences children have in the early years. One parent commented, ‘I could not think of a better start to my children’s education and I cannot praise the staff enough for everything they do for my children.’

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 116787 Worcestershire 10032572 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 Voluntary controlled 2 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 175 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Barbara Beard Andrew Hackley 01905 640285 www.broadheath.worcs.sch.uk head@broadheath.worcs.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 4–5 June 2015

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school is smaller than the average-sized primary school.
• Most pupils are of White British heritage.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is below average.
• The proportion of pupils supported by pupil premium is below average.
• There have been a number of pupils who have recently joined the school. As a result, the proportion of pupils who join or leave the school other than at normal entry times is higher than average.

Information about this inspection

• The inspectors gathered a range of evidence to judge the quality of teaching, learning and assessment over time. They observed learning in lessons. This included joint observations with the headteacher. In addition, the inspectors listened to pupils read in key stage 1 and 2.
• The inspectors looked at examples of pupils’ work and talked to them about their learning.
• The inspectors talked to parents and carers as they brought their children to school and examined the online survey for parents.
• The inspectors took account of the 40 responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire.
• The views of the 15 staff who completed the online questionnaires were considered.
• Meetings were held with pupils, three governors and school leaders.
• The inspector had a telephone discussion with a representative from the local authority.
• The inspectors looked at a wide range of documents, including the school’s own information on pupils’ current progress, planning of work in different subjects, leaders’ monitoring of the quality of teaching and learning and records relating to behaviour, attendance and safeguarding of pupils.

Inspection team

Sarah Somers, lead inspector Jeremy Bird Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector