Hall Green Primary School

Age group 3–11 Inspection date(s) 24–25 January 2012 Inspection number 377000 Hall Green Primary School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 103977 Local authority Sandwell Inspection number 377000 Inspection dates 24–25 January 2012 Lead inspector Anthony O'Malley HMI

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This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Type of school Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 395 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Jag Bahra Headteacher Kim Heng Date of previous school inspection 5 May 2009 School address Westminster Road West Bromwich B71 2JQ Telephone number 0121 588 2080 Fax number 0121 588 2218 Email address headteacher@hallgreen.sandwell.sch.uk achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked

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after children, safeguarding and child protection. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when.

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You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk , or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Introduction

Anthony O'Malley Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days’ notice. Nineteen lessons were observed, taught by 16 teachers. Meetings were held with staff, representatives of the governing body, two officers from the local authority, parents and carers, and five groups of pupils. Inspectors took account of the responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) in planning the inspection, observed the school’s work, and looked a variety of documentation, particularly that related to pupils’ progress and keeping them safe. Samples of pupils’ work were scrutinised and a number of pupils were heard reading. Inspectors analysed 127 questionnaires that were returned by parents and carers, as well as questionnaires from older pupils and staff.

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Information about the school

Hall Green is larger than most primary schools. The percentage of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is well above the national average. The majority of pupils are White British; a quarter have minority ethnic backgrounds. The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is below the national average. There are a few pupils at the early stages of learning English. The proportion of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities is close to the national average. The school meets the current government floor standard. Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Key findings

 This is a satisfactory school. Since the previous inspection, the standards attained by pupils when they leave the school have improved from low to average. Achievement is satisfactory.

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Key findings

 In the Early Years Foundation Stage and in Key Stage 1, pupils make satisfactory progress. They start Key Stage 2 with literacy and numeracy skills below those expected. Pupils make most progress in Key Stage 2. Reading skills are not promoted consistently well in Key Stage 1. Writing skills are a weakness throughout the school.

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Key findings

 Achievement for most groups of pupils is satisfactory. The achievement of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities is good.

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Key findings

 Teaching is satisfactory. Learning was good, and occasionally outstanding, in about half of the lessons seen. In other lessons, learning was less successful because explanations lacked clarity, the pace of learning was slow and there was not always enough challenge for different ability groups.

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Key findings

 There are examples of very effective marking of written work where pupils are made aware of what they have achieved, what they need to do to improve and how to go about this. This good practice is not consistent throughout the school.

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Key findings

 Pupils are well behaved. They feel happy and safe in school. The school teaches them the dangers of bullying in all its forms and pupils say that bullying is rare. However, attendance is low because of the high proportion of pupils who are persistently absent.

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Key findings

 Satisfactory leadership and management have led to improved teaching and learning, resulting in higher standards. The school’s leaders have improved systems for tracking pupils’ progress and evaluating the quality of provision. Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Key findings

Staff views are valued and morale is high.

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Key findings

 The governing body includes a relatively high proportion of recently appointed members. Its role in holding school leaders at all levels to account is currently underdeveloped.

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Key findings

Schools whose overall effectiveness is judged satisfactory may receive a monitoring visit by an Ofsted inspector before their next section 5 inspection.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise the standard of pupils’ reading skills in the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1, by:  sharing the best practice of the most effective teachers of early reading skills with less effective staff  monitoring the teaching of early reading rigorously to secure consistently good and outstanding learning.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise the standard of pupils’ writing, by:  providing effective professional development that eliminates the pockets of weaker provision by staff  ensuring that responses to pupils’ written work help them to improve and that pupils in all classes have time to respond to their teachers’ comments.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the effectiveness of the governing body, by:  ensuring it receives regular reports that clearly identify the impact of leadership at all levels on pupils’ outcomes  equipping members of the governing body with the skills that will enable them to be actively involved in the monitoring and evaluation of the school’s performance.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Reduce the proportion of pupils who are persistently absent, by:  identifying schools in similar circumstances who have good outcomes in this area and adapting their strategies to meet the needs of the school’s community.

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Achievement of pupils

The vast majority of parents and carers judge that their children are making good progress at school. Inspection evidence confirms that pupils with special educational need and/or disabilities do make good progress. This is because of the care taken to ensure that the additional support they receive closely matches their individual needs and because adults have high expectations of what they can achieve. Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Achievement of pupils

Other groups of pupils, including those from minority ethnic groups and those who are at an early stage of learning English, make only satisfactory progress because teaching is not consistently good or outstanding. For example, the progress made by children in the Early Years Foundation Stage and pupils in Key Stage 1 who were learning about phonics – the sounds letters make – was good in one lesson when the adult clearly modelled the sounds being taught. This helped the children to blend the individual sounds and read words. Crucially, the teacher kept a watchful eye to ensure that all of the children in the group were succeeding. However, in other sessions teaching letters and sounds, progress was only satisfactory because the lesson moved at the pace of the better readers, leaving a number of children struggling to master the blending of individual sounds. This inconsistency in practice means that attainment in reading remains low at the end of Key Stage 1. In Key

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Achievement of pupils

Stage 2, good guided reading sessions and the effective use of reading diaries contribute to accelerated progress, and the pupils reach average attainment in reading by the end of Year 6.

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Achievement of pupils

Most children enter the Nursery class with skills well below those typical for their age. They make satisfactory progress in the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1, but standards are still low in reading, writing and mathematics when they start Key Stage 2, where effective teaching leads to faster progress. The test results of pupils who were in Year 6 during the last academic year were the best the school has ever achieved. For example, attainment in mathematics was above the national average and over half the pupils attained the highest level, Level 5. During the last academic year the school implemented a project aimed at raising the attainment of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals. This group reached standards in English and mathematics in line with all pupils nationally, clearly demonstrating the positive impact of the project.

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Achievement of pupils

Pupils’ books and scrutiny of school data show that throughout the school writing skills are much weaker than reading and mathematical skills. Again, this is because of pupils’ weak phonic skills at the end of Key Stage 1 and inconsistencies in the quality of teaching.

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Quality of teaching

Parents and carers are very happy with the teaching their children receive. However, inspectors confirmed the school’s view that while teaching is improving, it is currently satisfactory. Strengths observed included lesson objectives that were very precise and ensured that pupils knew the purpose of their activities, lessons that linked successfully with earlier work so that pupils had a clear sense of the progress they are making, and the close monitoring by teachers and teaching assistants of all pupils’ responses so that any misconceptions are dealt with quickly. The school sets pupils by ability in mathematics and English. In Key Stage 2, there is good evidence that teachers plan successfully for the range of abilities within these sets. Moreover, they ensure that all pupils have opportunities to work collaboratively and enjoy activities that are motivating and fire their enthusiasm for learning. In this way, the

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Quality of teaching

most effective teachers develop the pupils’ social skills and their confidence to work Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Quality of teaching

in groups without constant direction by adults.

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Quality of teaching

Learning is not consistently of this quality. On occasions, introductions to lessons are too long and pupils become listless, including higher-attaining pupils who have to sit through explanations to their classmates of things they already understand. There is also variation in the quality of marking; some teachers expect pupils to respond to their marking but in other classes, marking appears to have limited impact on the quality of pupils’ subsequent work. The school is now developing opportunities for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage to learn outside the classroom. This is a positive move, particularly as space indoors is limited and adults struggle to set up exciting and imaginative activities in the classroom to promote good learning opportunities in all of the areas of learning.

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Quality of teaching

Within the planned curriculum, the teaching of reading is well organised with short, well-structured daily lessons in all classes. The pace of learning in these sessions varies depending upon the effectiveness of teachers’ and teaching assistants’ delivery and questioning. The curriculum also ensures that spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted through topics that take into account world faiths, the diversity of cultures in their own neighbourhood and further afield, and current events of such as natural disasters. The school council provides opportunities for pupils to gather ideas from their peers, express their opinions and be involved in making decisions about improving the school.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

All of the parents and carers who returned the questionnaire totally agreed that their children were safe in the school. A typical comment was, ‘This is a caring school with a lovely environment and a dedicated staff.’ Pupils say with confidence that they are safe in school and that their classmates, ‘playground buddies’ and the adults who work with them look after them well. Throughout the school day the welfare of pupils is given highest priority and the family support worker liaises well will staff, pupils and families to deal promptly with matters concerning the well-being of children. These links and interventions to support pupils with behavioural and emotional difficulties, such as the nurture group, have a demonstrable impact on the behaviour, self-esteem and progress of pupils. The school has been equally determined in its efforts to improve attendance and reduce the high proportion of pupils who are persistently absent. Over the last year, there is evidence of

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

improvement; the percentage of pupils who are persistently absent has reduced and overall attendance has risen. However, a small number of families remain to be convinced that regular attendance at school is crucial if their children are to be happy and successful both at school and in their future lives.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils and their parents and carers are also positive about behaviour in the school. Ninety-three per cent of parents and carers agreed that behaviour is good. The school tackles bullying in all of its forms rigorously and deals with prejudiced behaviour through its personal and social education curriculum. The school’s records show that it deals promptly and effectively with the rare instances of bullying or Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

racist behaviour. In lessons, pupils consistently show good attitudes to learning and around the school they are friendly and polite. They are proud of the house system and motivated by the rewards for achievement and good behaviour. There have been no exclusions over the last three years.

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Leadership and management

A rigorous programme of monitoring and evaluation enables the school’s leaders and managers to focus their actions for improvement on outcomes and aspects of provision that should be better. The increasing proportion of good and outstanding teaching and the acceleration in the progress made by pupils show a readiness to tackle ineffective practice and demonstrate the school’s satisfactory capacity to improve further. However, staff have not all benefited equally from the programme of professional development and pockets of less effective practice remain. For example, the teaching of letters and sounds is not yet consistently good.

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Leadership and management

The promotion of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is satisfactory. The school has developed the curriculum to ensure well-organised and appropriate opportunities for learning for all groups of pupils. It promotes positive behaviour and safety and provides a broad range of experiences. Pupils talk enthusiastically about the programme of enrichment activities that includes music, art, pottery, gardening and drama.

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Leadership and management

The school’s safeguarding policies and procedures, and arrangements for child protection, meet requirements. The provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities demonstrates its commitment to promoting equality of opportunity. For example, one parent shared her gratitude at the steps taken to enable her child to attend after-school clubs.

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Leadership and management

The governing body has a broad understanding of the school’s strengths and areas for development. However, while its members are in regular contact with the headteacher and receive reports on the school’s performance, they are not entirely clear about the impact of leadership at all levels on pupils’ outcomes. Not all members of the governing body have received training to equip them with the skills that will enable them to be more actively involved in the monitoring and evaluation of the school’s performance.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding These features are highly effective. An outstanding school provides exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. Grade 2 Good These are very positive features of a school. A school that is good is serving its pupils well. Grade 3 Satisfactory These features are of reasonable quality. A satisfactory school is providing adequately for its pupils. Grade 4 Inadequate These features are not of an acceptable standard. An inadequate school needs to make significant improvement in order to meet the needs of its pupils. Ofsted inspectors will make further visits until it improves.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Nursery schools 46 46 8 0 Primary schools 8 47 40 5 Secondary schools 14 38 40 8 Special schools 28 48 20 4 Pupil referral units 15 50 29 5 All schools 11 46 38 6

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

New school inspection arrangements have been introduced from 1 January 2012. This means that inspectors make judgements that were not made previously. The data in the table above are for the period 1 September 2010 to 31 August 2011 and represent judgements that were made under the school inspection arrangements that were introduced on 1 September 2009. These data are consistent with the latest published official statistics about maintained school inspection outcomes (see www.ofsted.gov.uk ). The sample of schools inspected during 2010/11 was not representative of all schools nationally, as weaker schools are inspected more frequently than good or outstanding schools. Primary schools include primary academy converters. Secondary schools include secondary academ y converters, sponsor-led academies and city technology colleges. Special schools include special academy converters and non-maintained special schools.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Percentages are rounded and do not always add exactly to 100.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Achievement: the progress and success of a pupil in their learning and development taking account of their attainment.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attainment: the standard of the pupils’ work shown by test and examination results and in lessons.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attendance the regular attendance of pupils at school and in lessons, taking into account the school’s efforts to encourage good attendance.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Behaviour how well pupils behave in lessons, with emphasis on their attitude to learning. Pupils’ punctuality to lessons and their conduct around the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Capacity to improve: the proven ability of the school to continue improving based on its self-evaluation and what the school has accomplished so far and on the quality of its systems to maintain improvement.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Leadership and management: the contribution of all the staff with responsibilities, not just the governors and headteacher, to identifying priorities, directing and motivating staff and running the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Learning: how well pupils acquire knowledge, develop their understanding, learn and practise skills and are developing their competence as learners.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Overall effectiveness: inspectors form a judgement on a school’s overall effectiveness based on the findings from their inspection of the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Progress: the rate at which pupils are learning in lessons and over longer periods of time. It is often measured by comparing the pupils’ attainment at the end of a key stage with their attainment when they started.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Safety how safe pupils are in school, including in lessons; and their understanding of risks. Pupils’ freedom from bullying and harassment. How well the school promotes safety, for example e-learning.

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carers to share with their children. It describes Ofsted’s

main findings from the inspection of their school.

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Inspection of Hall Green Primary School, West Bromwich, B71 2JQ

Thank you very much for your warm welcome when we inspected your school. We enjoyed talking to you, hearing you read and watching you at work in class. Some of the older pupils in the school completed questionnaires. These told us that you enjoy school and that the school deals with any bullying very effectively.

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Inspection of Hall Green Primary School, West Bromwich, B71 2JQ

This is what we have said about your school in our report:  Hall Green is a satisfactory school that is improving  your achievement is satisfactory because you make satisfactory progress and reach the standards expected by the end of Year 6  pupils with a disability and those with special educational needs are supported well and make good progress  the teaching you receive is satisfactory overall but some lessons are good and a few are outstanding  the way your school is led and managed and the curriculum you follow are satisfactory  you behave well in school and on the playground but some children do not attend school regularly enough  your school ensures that you are kept safe.

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Inspection of Hall Green Primary School, West Bromwich, B71 2JQ

This is what we have asked your school to do to help you achieve even more:  improve your reading skills so that you are all good readers by the start of Year

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Inspection of Hall Green Primary School, West Bromwich, B71 2JQ

 improve your writing skills  help members of the school’s governing body to contribute more to the leadership of the school  ensure that all of you attend school as regularly as possible.

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Inspection of Hall Green Primary School, West Bromwich, B71 2JQ

All of you can help the school improve by attending regularly, continuing to behave well and working with your teachers to achieve the very best you can.

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Inspection of Hall Green Primary School, West Bromwich, B71 2JQ

Anthony O'Malley Her Majesty's Inspector procedures set out in the guidance 'Complaining about inspections', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234 , or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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