Perry Wood Primary and Nursery School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching and learning by:
  • ensuring that the work set for the most able pupils provides a consistently high level of challenge
  • planning lessons that use time effectively to maximise pupils’ opportunities to learn
  • making sure that the style of older pupils’ writing is closely matched to its purpose.
• Increase the impact of leadership and management on how well all pupils achieve by:
  • continuing to work intensively with the families of pupils who are persistently absent in order to raise their attendance and their achievement
  • ensuring that teachers have precise expectations of what pupils can achieve in Years 3, 4 and 5 so that their progress in these year groups matches that of other pupils in the school.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Leaders have taken effective steps to address the school’s weaknesses, including those identified at the most recent inspections. They have implemented programmes to support pupils’ emotional health, raise attendance, improve pupils’ presentation and help teachers in their planning and assessment of the wider curriculum. Although some minor inconsistencies remain, the quality of teaching and learning and pupils’ achievement are rising rapidly.
• Leaders have high expectations and are ambitious for further improvement. They have a strong commitment to equality of opportunity. Plans for the expenditure of the pupil premium have proved highly effective. Through the evaluation and refinement of the school’s provision for pupils with SEND, leaders have rapidly increased the attendance and achievement of these pupils.
• The school’s plans for development include clear timescales and measures by which leaders and governors can judge the plans’ impact. Leaders have a realistic view of the school and, during the inspection, leaders’ views on the quality of teaching aligned with those of inspectors.
• Leaders undertake regular checks on the quality of teaching. Teachers, including those who are at a relatively early stage of their careers, told inspectors that training, both within the school and outside, is consistently helping them to develop their skills. They believe that leaders manage their workload effectively.
• Teachers use assessment regularly to check on pupils’ achievement, and leaders use the results to identify any pupils at risk of falling behind. Teachers and leaders then plan alternative or additional teaching to help these pupils to catch up, amending these arrangements if they prove unsuccessful. Teachers check the accuracy of their judgements about pupils’ attainment with those made by teachers in other schools, both within the trust and in the local cluster.
• Subject leads provide useful guidance to their colleagues on how to approach particular topics. They have begun to check on the effectiveness of teaching within their subjects. This includes helping their colleagues to plan work at the right level, so that, increasingly, pupils with the potential to do so attain at greater depth. Leaders have spent the physical education (PE) and sport premium well, so that more pupils take an active part in a strikingly wide range of physical activities.
• Leaders take as their starting point for the curriculum the importance of broadening pupils’ experience and exciting their interest. Special events, such as international days and a creative arts week, complement the regular teaching of a wide range of subjects. Pupils benefit from visits to places of interest, and from visitors to the school. Older pupils who spoke with inspectors appreciated the relevance of recent work on pollution and deforestation. The majority of pupils enjoy after-school clubs, largely focused on sports and the creative arts.
• The school also ensures that pupils develop a good spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding. Through the lessons about the importance of rules and responsibilities, teachers encourage pupils to work together and treat each other with respect. In part through their religious education, pupils learn about cultures other than their own and the importance of valuing diversity.
• The academy trust has provided effective support for the school. Officers of the trust have given leaders an independent evaluation of the quality of education and supported their professional development. In addition, the trust organises events in other trust schools, such as musical or drama performances, to which pupils have access.

Governance of the school

• Governance is effective. The academy trust has a clear and consistent ethos, which it has explained to the school’s stakeholders. At the same time, the trustees recognise the individual characteristics of each school in the trust, and seek leaders and approaches that are right for each school. The trust’s schools are geographically widespread, and the trust has sought to use this as a strength. Pupils and staff are encouraged to learn from schools in different social and geographical contexts. For example, on the second day of the inspection, some Year 6 pupils went to watch a play at one of the trust’s secondary schools in Milton Keynes.
• The trust established progress boards in response to their long-standing concerns about standards in the school. Board members have the educational expertise to analyse the school’s outcomes in detail, and provide additional scrutiny. The progress board holds leaders directly to account, and also reports to the local governing board.
• Members of the local governing board know the school well, and visit it regularly. They understand the trust’s educational outlook, and how raising pupils’ aspirations is important for the local community. Governors make sure that leaders keep pupils safe. They have visited the secondary school to which the majority of pupils transfer, to investigate the effectiveness of transition arrangements. In their meetings, they also question leaders about the effectiveness of their actions in improving the school.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The staff know the pupils and their diverse backgrounds very well. They understand how their circumstances might affect pupils’ welfare and safety. Staff are vigilant, and their regular training makes them well aware of how to identify and report any concerns. They are alert to the possibility that pupils might be exposed to radicalisation or extremism. Leaders check on the safety of those pupils who are persistently absent.
• The school’s policies and procedures are up to date and meet all statutory requirements. Clear and detailed records are stored securely. Leaders work effectively with parents, carers and other agencies that work to protect children in order to safeguard those pupils who are potentially vulnerable.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• The quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good. It is strongest in the early years and Year 6. The relationships between staff and pupils are very strong. Teachers plan activities that engage pupils’ interest so that they are keen to learn. Pupils have the skills and understanding to extend and develop their own work. For example, in a Year 5 class, pupils working on tablet computers chose to use the online dictionary and thesaurus to enhance their writing.
• Teachers set work that builds on pupils’ existing knowledge and skills. They provide tasks that challenge those who have a stronger prior understanding or who complete their routine work. Teachers question pupils effectively to ascertain how far they have understood new ideas. They give pupils increasingly detailed feedback. Pupils use this feedback to enhance and improve their work.
• Teaching assistants are highly effective in working with individual pupils and small groups. They question pupils well to enhance their understanding, and develop their emotional resilience so that they are better able to concentrate on their work. The effective organisation of teaching for pupils with SEND and those who need to catch up has ensured that they often make particularly strong progress.
• Pupils learn to write in a wide range of different contexts, and have good opportunities to write at length. Teachers ensure that pupils check carefully on their spelling and punctuation. Handwriting across the school is well formed. Some older pupils do not match the style of their writing carefully enough to its purpose, for example including adventurous adjectives in their non-fiction writing.
• Staff teach phonics very effectively. Leaders ensure that staff take a consistent and systematic approach, and identify quickly any misconceptions. Pupils who join the school with English as an additional language learn to read and write very effectively, so that by the end of Year 1, their phonics knowledge is as strong as that of their peers.
• Leaders have adapted the school’s approach to the teaching of mathematics. Teachers ensure that pupils learn to apply their mathematical skills in practical situations. They explain their mathematical thinking, both verbally and in their books. Pupils have access to good mathematical resources to help them to develop their understanding.
• On occasion, the most able pupils do not benefit consistently from work that presents a sufficient challenge. The school’s practice in allowing pupils to choose tasks of varying levels of difficulty is still developing, and teachers do not always guide the most able to the hardest tasks, or they fail to move these pupils on quickly enough.
• Although teachers generally plan lessons well, sometimes the activities in a lesson do not make the best use of time. In these circumstances, pupils are busy but do not learn as much as they might do.
• Teachers manage pupils’ behaviour effectively. They have a good understanding of the subject-specific terms and the approach required to teach subjects other than English and mathematics. Homework makes an effective contribution to pupils’ learning.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Staff pay very good attention to pupils’ emotional health and well-being. Staff work intensively with pupils who are experiencing stress or who lack confidence. They help these pupils to become more resilient and to form strong relationships with other pupils and with staff.
• Pupils feel very safe in school. They told inspectors that bullying occurs only rarely and that, when it does, they have every confidence in the staff to resolve any issues promptly. The school teaches pupils how to be safe in several respects. Pupils were able to recall in detail how to protect their identities online, and how to stay safe on the roads.
• During the inspection, inspectors observed lessons that helped pupils to understand and value each other’s differences, and developed their capacity to work together. As a result of this kind of specific focus on how pupils should treat each other, they collaborate effectively in the classroom and play happily together.
• Pupils enjoy reading, and have learned to value and understand their education. Older pupils were able to explain to inspectors how the school had prepared them for secondary school.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. Leaders have adopted specific strategies to improve pupils’ behaviour, for example amending the timetable for one year group to address the importance of social skills and emotional resilience. The school works effectively with those pupils who join the school presenting challenging behaviour, so that they feel more secure and respect the rights of others.
• Pupils behave consistently well in lessons. From the early years on, pupils learn to follow clear classroom routines. They understand and value the school’s system of rewards and sanctions. Pupils work hard, persevere and take the initiative to use learning resources such as word lists and times tables. Across the school, pupils present their work neatly.
• Pupils’ conduct at social times is orderly and responsible. During breaktimes and lunchtimes, they play happily together. Inspectors saw no instances of aggression or antisocial behaviour.
• Leaders keep detailed records of behaviour, and these show a reduction in more serious behavioural incidents. There has been a consequent reduction in the school’s use of fixed-term exclusion, which had previously been above the national average.
• In the academic year 2017/18, pupils’ attendance fell, so that it was markedly below the national average. Since September, however, leaders have encouraged all staff to take a greater responsibility for improving attendance. An increasingly strong relationship with parents has borne fruit, and attendance has risen sharply to approach the national average. The proportion of pupils who are absent persistently remains above the national average.
• A very few pupils currently attend alternative provision each day for the morning session to help them to address their behaviour. Although the arrangement is a recent one, early signs are that it is leading to the required improvement.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Outcomes for pupils are good. Information supplied by the school and confirmed by other inspection evidence shows that across the school, pupils are making strong progress in English and mathematics. They are also achieving well in other subjects, including science, music and PE.
• Published outcomes at the end of key stage 2 have improved considerably in recent years. Year 6 pupils left the school in 2018 having made progress that was above average in reading, and at least in line with the national average in writing and mathematics. The proportion of pupils who attained the expected standard in each aspect of the curriculum was average, although the proportions attaining at the higher standard were below averages.
• Over recent years, pupils’ attainment at key stage 1 has been broadly in line with the national average. The proportion of pupils who have achieved the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check has also been in line with that seen nationally.
• Disadvantaged pupils achieve very well. Leaders and governors pay close attention to disadvantaged pupils’ achievement and, via the well-judged allocation of the pupil premium, look to address any gaps that open up between their progress and that of other pupils nationally. As a result, in 2018, disadvantaged pupils’ attainment at key stage 1 and key stage 2 was, in many respects, similar to that of other pupils nationally. Disadvantaged pupils in Year 6 left the school having made particularly strong progress in reading.
• Teachers build well on pupils’ secure phonics knowledge. Older pupils read fluently and with good expression. They enjoy reading, with one pupil telling the inspector, ‘It makes me feel happy and calm.’ The majority of pupils read daily at home, and teachers monitor their reading development closely.
• Inspection evidence showed that pupils’ progress across key stage 2 is not yet consistent. In recent years, the school has relied on rapid progress in Year 6 to compensate for weaker progress lower down the school. Although achievement in Years 3, 4 and 5 is improving, expectations for what pupils can achieve are not as clearly defined as they are for pupils in Year 6. As a result, their progress is not quite as high as that of other pupils in the school.
• Rising standards at key stage 2 and the school’s broad curriculum mean that pupils are increasingly well prepared for the move to secondary school. In addition, the school has given them a good level of self-confidence and an enthusiasm for their work.

Early years provision Good

• Provision in the early years is very effective. Many children enter the school in the Nursery or Reception Year with skills that are below, or well below, those typical for their age. Children’s skills in communication, language and literacy, and in personal, social and emotional development, are often particularly weak. They make strong progress, so that most pupils are well prepared for key stage 1. In recent years, the proportion of children who have attained a good level of development has been at or just below the national average.
• Leaders in the early years have ensured that all staff are trained to a high standard. As a result, expectations are consistent across all three year groups. They ensure that the learning environment is skilfully designed to stimulate children’s curiosity and reinforce their emerging knowledge of literacy and numeracy. Children have ample opportunity to pursue their own interests.
• Leaders keep a careful check on children’s progress, and adjust the provision in the light of the outcomes. For example, the staff have recently provided more activities that appeal to boys, and placed a greater priority on number work. Leaders have spent the pupil premium funding wisely, for example buying waterproof clothing to encourage disadvantaged children to make full use of the outdoor area. The achievement of several children with SEND has been greatly strengthened through the engagement of a speech and language therapist.
• Leaders give careful consideration to each transition that takes place. In September, staff visit the home of each child joining the provision. Parents are initially invited into school to stay and play with their children, and later to attend workshops that explain the school’s approach to particular aspects of learning. Parents told inspectors that they found communication with the early years particularly productive.
• Staff enjoy excellent relationships with the children. They support their learning through careful explanation and skilful questioning. Staff encourage pupils to communicate effectively, and to extend their spoken answers into full sentences. Just occasionally, staff do not identify opportunities to extend children’s learning as quickly as they might do.
• Children behave well. From the outset, staff pay explicit attention to children’s social skills. For example, during the inspection, staff ensured that two-year-olds followed their instructions at snack time and shared with others. Older children follow established routines, but are encouraged to be independent.
• The learning environment, both inside and out, is safe and well resourced. The outdoor environment lacks some of the stimulating attention to detail evident in the classrooms, and so is a little less appealing to the children. Staff work effectively with external agencies to meet the needs of children whose circumstances mean that they might be vulnerable. All welfare requirements, including those relating to two-year-olds, are met.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 139001 Worcestershire 10053331 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 Academy sponsor-led 2 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 427 Appropriate authority Board of trustees Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Mike McCreedy Suzanne Beston 01905 354800 www.perrywood-gst.org office@perrywood.worcs.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 6 July 2016

Information about this school

• Perry Wood Primary and Nursery School is larger than the average-sized primary school. The school provides a breakfast club and after-school club.
• Perry Wood Primary and Nursery School is part of the Griffin Schools Trust. The school has a local governing board which is responsible for the routine governance of the school.
• The headteacher was appointed to her post in September 2017. She had previously served as one of the school’s deputy headteachers.
• The proportion of pupils who are disadvantaged is above average.
• The proportion of pupils with SEND is slightly below average.
• The proportion of pupils who have English as an additional language is average.
• The proportion of pupils who leave and join the school other than at the normal points of transfer is above average.
• A very few pupils currently receive part-time alternative provision at the Perryfields Primary Pupil Referral Unit in Worcester.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning in all year groups. Most observations were conducted jointly with senior leaders. Inspectors also observed pupils’ conduct at social times.
• Inspectors held discussions with school leaders, staff, members of the local governing board and representatives of the academy trust.
• Three groups of pupils, two chosen at random, met with inspectors. Inspectors also spoke with many other pupils informally. One inspector listened to pupils in Years 2 and 4 read.
• Inspectors looked at pupils’ workbooks in lessons, and, working jointly with school leaders, scrutinised a large number of books in greater depth. The lead inspector considered a range of information about current pupils’ performance.
• Inspectors looked at a wide range of documents, both electronically and on paper. These included development plans and evaluations of the school’s performance; the minutes of meetings held by the local governing board and the project board; policies; and reports written by officers of the trust about the quality of education in the school. Inspectors scrutinised in detail records showing how the school supports vulnerable pupils.
• The inspection team took account of the 25 responses to Parent View, including the 23 free-text responses. They scrutinised the results of surveys that parents had completed at the school’s request. Inspectors spoke with several parents on the morning of the second day of the inspection. Inspectors also considered the 39 responses to Ofsted’s staff survey.
• The headteacher was on planned leave during the inspection.

Inspection team

Martin Spoor, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Kerri James Janet Lewis

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector