Broom Valley Community School

Broom Valley Community School Inspection report

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Age group 3–11 Inspection date(s) 12–13 October 2011 Inspection number 366213 Unique Reference Number 106835 Local authority Rotherham Inspection number 366213 Inspection dates 12–13 October 2011 Reporting inspector John Rutherford HMI

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This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005 which gives Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills (HMCI) the authority to cause any school to be inspected. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act .

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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 454 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Anne Asher Headteacher David Saunders Date of previous school inspection 23 November 2009 School address Broom Valley Road Rotherham South Yorkshire S60 2QU Telephone number 01709 828636 Fax number 01709 835491 Email address bvcs@rotherham.gov.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 rates council children's services, and inspects services for looked after

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children, safeguarding and child protection.

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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.

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out by one of Her Majesty's Inspectors and one additional inspector. Inspectors observed teaching and learning in 17 lessons taught by 16 teachers and one lead worker for English as an additional language. They held meetings with school leaders, groups of pupils, three members of the governing body and three representatives from the local authority. Inspectors looked at samples of pupils’ work, information about pupils’ progress and a range of management documents, including policies and records for ensuring the safeguarding of pupils.

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Introduction

The inspection team reviewed many aspects of the school’s work. It looked in detail at the school’s effectiveness in tackling the areas for improvement identified in the previous inspection.

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Introduction

 Has pupils’ achievement improved to at least a satisfactory level?  Are teachers using assessment information to plan work that enables all groups of pupils to accelerate their progress?  Is the pace of learning suitable for all pupils?  Are school leaders accurately evaluating the quality of provision and pupils’ outcomes and does this lead to improvement?  Does the governing body scrutinise the school’s performance and ensure that weaknesses are tackled?

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Information about the school

This is a larger than average primary school. Over four-fifths of the pupils speak English as an additional language, which is well above average. Almost three- quarters of pupils are from Pakistani families and the proportion of pupils from Eastern European families is rapidly growing; from 3 to 15% in the last two years. A quarter of the pupils start school or leave in the middle of a key stage, which is above average. Around a quarter of the pupils have special educational needs and/or disabilities, which is also above average.

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Information about the school

Following the inspection in November 2009, the school was placed in special measures because it was not providing an acceptable standard of education and was not demonstrating the capacity to bring about the necessary improvements. Since then, three-quarters of the teachers have changed. The school has only very recently reached the point where the majority of teachers are on permanent contracts. With the exception of the headteacher, all the senior and middle leaders have been appointed within the last 18 months. 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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Main findings

In accordance with section 13 (4) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that the school no longer requires special measures. Broom Valley now provides a satisfactory and improving quality of education. School leaders have improved teaching and pupils’ achievement to a satisfactory level since the previous inspection. This is without detriment to the care, guidance and support for pupils and their personal development which are still as good, overall, as they were two years ago. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is an outstanding aspect of pupils’ outcomes because of the staff’s excellent work in promoting values that underpin a cohesive, harmonious community.

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Main findings

The headteacher and two recently appointed deputy headteachers provide good leadership. They have very quickly helped the many new teachers to use the school’s methods consistently and this is raising pupils’ achievement. They are also helping the new middle leaders to develop their leadership skills and some are already making a very strong contribution to improving teaching across the school. Senior and middle leaders work together well in systematically monitoring the school’s provision and pupils’ progress; they accurately identify strengths and weaknesses and this informs a clear improvement plan which focuses the efforts of all staff on making changes where they are most needed. The significant improvements already made by the leadership team, such as the removal of inadequate teaching and better pupils achievement, demonstrate their good capacity to raise standards of attainment further.

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Main findings

National data for July 2011 and school records show that pupils start school with skills and knowledge well below those typical for their age. They make good progress in the Early Years Foundation Stage then, after some peaks and troughs in Key Stages 1 and 2, they leave school with broadly average standards of attainment. The peaks and troughs occur because the quality of teaching is variable, ranging from satisfactory to outstanding, however, the greater incidence of good and outstanding lessons since July is helping more pupils to make progress at a better than expected rate. This has not yet reached the stage where progress overall can be judged to be good. Where teaching is still not as good as the best in the school, pupils’ progress slows because activities in lessons are not all sufficiently focused on the new skill being taught, work does not always motivate pupils and pupils’ handwriting and

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Main findings

presentation skills are not sufficiently well developed. The leadership team has begun to develop a curriculum that provides greater motivation to learn for all pupils. There are already improvements in the way pupils extend their literacy and numeracy skills within very interesting topics and in the way children moving from Early Years Foundation Stage to Key Stage 1 can continue to have learning experiences that help them to build on their good start. These improvements are not yet embedded in every class, which contributes to the variations in pupils’ progress through the school.

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Main findings

Up to 40% of the 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?

To improve pupils’ achievement, the leadership team and staff should take the following actions.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the consistency of good and outstanding teaching by:  planning all lessons with a clear learning objective and making sure that all activities help pupils to achieve it  organising lessons and presenting new ideas in a way that motivates all pupils to participate fully in all learning activities  giving more emphasis to developing pupils’ skills in handwriting and setting out their work.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the curriculum by embedding the following new approaches in all classes:  pupils spending a sustained time working on interesting topics that help them to develop their skills in a number of subjects, including English and mathematics  planning a curriculum in Key Stage 1 that helps pupils to build on the good start they make in the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

Outcomes for individuals and groups of pupils 3

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

Pupils’ progress in English and mathematics is satisfactory and quickly improving as the quality of teaching becomes more consistently good and outstanding. Improving progress is most evident in writing, reflecting the priority that all staff are giving to this. No group of pupils is falling behind because all teachers are consistently effective in planning work and adult support which meet their differing needs. Pupils from a Pakistani background exceed the standards attained by Pakistani pupils nationally. Pupils who speak English as an additional language make good progress because they receive well-planned teaching in the specialist group room and skilled support while working in mainstream lessons. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities make satisfactory progress and this is improving with the recent introduction of much more precise individual support plans.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

The very large majority of pupils enjoy learning and behave well in school. Their ability to complete tasks on their own and to discuss work in groups makes a significant contribution to their improving progress. Their attendance is average, which is lower than it was during the previous inspection. The difference is largely due to the growing number of newly arrived pupils living a considerable distance from the school. School leaders have begun to implement a clear plan to tackle the issue with the support of an outreach worker who speaks the home language of the pupils’ families.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

Pupils have a good understanding of how to stay safe and lead a healthy lifestyle. They take responsibility for such matters as deciding which values should be a priority for learning in personal and social education and for befriending pupils who are new to their class. They contribute to their local community in a range of ways, for example, by giving the police their views on traffic calming measures. Pupils’ personal qualities and their progress in learning basic skills give them a sound basis for their future education and work. Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is exceptional because they understand and put into practice values such as respect, responsibility, inclusion for all and perseverance. This is a result of the school’s very well-planned approach to community cohesion.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

These are the grades for pupils' outcomes Pupils' achievement and the extent to which they enjoy their learning Taking into account: Pupils' attainment 1 3 The quality of pupils' learning and their progress 3 The quality of learning for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and their progress The extent to which pupils feel safe 2 Pupils' behaviour 2 The extent to which pupils adopt healthy lifestyles 2 The extent to which pupils contribute to the school and wider community 2 The extent to which pupils develop workplace and other skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being Taking into account: Pupils' attendance 1 3 The extent of pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 1

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How effective is the provision?

Teaching is satisfactory overall, however, the proportion of good and outstanding practice is increasing and inadequate lessons are now rare. Where teaching is most effective, teachers provide stimulating lessons that enthuse all pupils and keep them busy with interesting activities. Lessons have a sharply focused learning objective and pupils are given clear guidance about how to achieve it in their independent activities. Teachers constantly review and change their plans to ensure that lessons meet the learning needs of all groups of pupils. Teachers’ marking is effective because it provides useful guidance and time is given for pupils to respond to it. These features are not yet consistent enough in all classes for teaching to be judged good overall. A strong feature in most classes is the contribution of teaching assistants to providing extra challenge or support for groups of pupils who need it.

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How effective is the provision?

1 The grades for attainment and attendance are: 1 is high; 2 is above average; 3 is broadly average; and 4 is low The leadership team has made a good start in improving the curriculum and the work done so far is having a positive impact on pupils’ learning. This is most evident in classes where pupils extend their literacy and numeracy skills in cross-curricular topics, for example a trip to York and work on dragons helps them to improve their writing for different purposes, while a popular television show is used to help them understand and practise data handling methods. Extra-curricular activities are thoughtfully planned to meet the needs of particular groups of pupils, for example a transition club provides a range of activities for those who have concerns about moving on to their secondary school and a film club is arranged to extend the language skills of families who speak English as an additional language.

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How effective is the provision?

The good care, guidance and support stem from all staff knowing the pupils and their families well so that they can respond quickly and effectively when pupils have additional needs. The school works in good partnership with external services to ensure specialist support for pupils who need it. The school has been successful in helping many pupils to overcome social and emotional difficulties with the result that their attendance has improved, they have made better relationships with other pupils and they have been able to concentrate more on their learning.

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How effective is the provision?

These are the grades for the quality of provision The quality of teaching Taking into account: The use of assessment to support learning 3 The extent to which the curriculum meets pupils' needs, including, where relevant, through partnerships The effectiveness of care, guidance and support 2

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How effective are leadership and management?

While vigorously improving the quality of teaching and dealing with many difficult personnel issues, the new leadership team has maintained the staff’s high morale and strong commitment to improving pupils’ outcomes. The culture of care for pupils has always been strong but this is now combined with high expectations for their academic progress. The leadership team uses a wide range of effective methods to keep teaching and pupils’ progress under constant review and this helps them to pinpoint which aspects of teaching need to be improved and which pupils need extra support or challenge. The school improvement plan includes ambitious targets for raising standards of attainment by the end of Year 6, however, targets for every other year group are not sufficiently explicit to enable school leaders and the governing body to evaluate the extent to whether every class is contributing sufficiently to the achievement of their aspirations.

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How effective are leadership and management?

Having undergone many changes since the previous inspection, the governing body’s work is now satisfactory overall and improving rapidly. They are developing a detailed and accurate understanding of the school’s performance and they scrutinise proposals for change to ensure they will improve pupils’ outcomes. From their own thorough self-evaluation, they identify that they need to develop their role further in contributing to the school’s longer term planning. They support school leaders well in ensuring that all procedures are in place for safeguarding pupils and that valid safety concerns raised by parents are promptly dealt with.

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How effective are leadership and management?

The staff provide a wide range of opportunities for parents to learn about the work of the school and their children’s progress. This includes a programme of workshops on topics that parents have specifically asked for. School leaders are aware of parents who rarely take advantage of these opportunities and good plans are in place to encourage their involvement. The school works well in partnership with community organisations, such as banks and sports clubs, to provide interesting challenges for more-able pupils and encouragement for those who need support with their reading.

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How effective are leadership and management?

School leaders refine their skills by working closely with colleagues in other schools, particularly within the local ‘learning community’. Many other schools have learned from Broom Valley’s excellent work in promoting community cohesion. The leadership team has developed a clear strategy for this aspect of its work, which is based on a thorough audit of needs. Pupils are given the opportunity to encounter a wide range of community groups, both locally and nationally, while learning the values of harmonious living. People who live and work in the community come into school to discuss local issues with pupils and to build good relationships between different groups. The effectiveness of the strategy results in the school being a very cohesive community with exceptionally little incidence of racism. The school makes explicit that pupils from all backgrounds are valued equally. To reinforce this, it has

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How effective are leadership and management?

recently published a book of global tales, retold by the pupils, which highlights the traditions of all the countries from which local families originate. The school is also very ambitious for every pupil; therefore, leaders carefully monitor the achievement of all groups and take effective action to ensure each has an equal opportunity to achieve as much as possible.

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How effective are leadership and management?

These are the grades for the leadership and management The effectiveness of leadership and management in embedding ambition and driving improvement Taking into account: The leadership and management of teaching and learning 2 The effectiveness of the governing body in challenging and supporting the school so that weaknesses are tackled decisively and statutory responsibilities met The effectiveness of the school's engagement with parents and carers 2 The effectiveness of partnerships in promoting learning and well-being 2 The effectiveness with which the school promotes equality of opportunity and tackles discrimination The effectiveness of safeguarding procedures 2 The effectiveness with which the school promotes community cohesion 1 The effectiveness with which the school deploys resources to achieve value for money

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Early Years Foundation Stage

Children make good progress, especially in speaking, learning letters and their sounds and early writing skills. They also quickly develop good attitudes to work, independent learning skills and the ability to share with others. They learn how to stay safe and choose healthy foods at snack time. When they start, the children settle in quickly and clearly enjoy their learning activities because of the warm relationships fostered by the staff.

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Early Years Foundation Stage

Learning activities are stimulating and, because of good assessment, they are well matched to the needs and interests of all children. Staff provide plenty of opportunity for children to make choices and follow their imagination, one example being when they agreed to a group’s request for a big enough box to take them all to the moon. Within many of these activities, adults give good support to children in extending their speaking and writing skills, for example when playing in the outdoor post office. At times, adults do not give children sufficient time to develop their own spoken sentences. Children who speak English as an additional language are given good support and are quickly able to benefit from all that the setting provides. There is a strong focus on identifying children with special educational needs and/or disabilities as quickly as possible, although the leadership team is currently working on this area

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Early Years Foundation Stage

Leaders have established a good climate of teamwork and high expectations among all staff. There are good partnerships with parents and carers, who are encouraged to spend time in the setting finding out how they can support their children’s learning. The leadership team keeps provision under constant review and makes improvements where most necessary to improve children’s outcomes. For example, it has identified that, although children are making good progress in developing their mathematical skills, this is not at the same rate as their language skills and it has drawn up a focused action plan to close the gap.

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Early Years Foundation Stage

These are the grades for the Early Years Foundation Stage Overall effectiveness of the Early Years Foundation stage Taking into account: Outcomes for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage 2 The quality of provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage 2 The effectiveness of leadership and management in the Early Years Foundation Stage

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Views of parents and carers

Parent and carer questionnaires are not normally distributed for inspections conducted under section 8 of the Education Act 2005, unless inspectors have specific reasons to request that the school does so.

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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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Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Nursery schools 43 47 10 0 Primary schools 6 46 42 6 Secondary schools 14 36 41 9 Sixth forms 15 42 41 3 Special schools 30 48 19 3 Pupil referral units 14 50 31 5 All schools 10 44 39 6

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Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

New school inspection arrangements were introduced on 1 September 2009. This means that inspectors now make some additional judgements that were not made previo usly.

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Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

The data in the table above are for the period 1 September 2010 to 08 April 2011 and are consistent with the latest published official statistics about maintained school inspection outcomes (see www.ofsted.gov.uk ).

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Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

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.

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Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Percentages are rounded and do not always add exactly to 100. Sixth form figures reflect the judgements made for the overall effectiveness of the sixth form in secondary schools, special schools and pupil referral units.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Achievement: the progress and success of a pupil in their learning, development or training.

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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

Capacity to improve: the proven ability of the school to continue improving. Inspectors base this judgement on 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 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. The following judgements, in particular, influence what the overall effectiveness judgement will be.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

 The school's capacity for sustained improvement.  Outcomes for individuals and groups of pupils.  The quality of teaching.  The extent to which the curriculum meets pupils’ needs, including, where relevant, through partnerships.  The effectiveness of care, guidance and support.

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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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Inspection of Broom Valley Community School, Rotherham, S60 2QU

Thank you for being so helpful when I came with my colleague, Mrs Eaton, to inspect your school. I found my discussions with you to be most helpful because you were very polite and you had so much to say about all the interesting things going on in your school. You helped me to make my judgement that your school is providing you with a satisfactory quality of education.

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Inspection of Broom Valley Community School, Rotherham, S60 2QU

You told me that there has been a massive improvement in your school since inspectors came in November 2009, and that you are learning far more now. I agree with you and I have decided that your school no longer needs ‘special measures’. The headteacher and staff have worked very hard to make your school a better place but they could not have achieved all their improvements without your hard work, so a very big ‘well done’ goes to you. You are making outstanding progress in learning the values of respect, responsibility, including everyone and perseverance, which you have decided are very important for making sure that you all live and work together happily. Even the youngest of you understand and can talk about these values, which I believe is excellent for the future of your school and where you live.

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Inspection of Broom Valley Community School, Rotherham, S60 2QU

The headteacher, staff and governors want to go on improving your school for you so I have agreed with them what they can do next.

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Inspection of Broom Valley Community School, Rotherham, S60 2QU

 Help you to improve your handwriting and the way you set out your work.  Make sure that the work in every lesson keeps you all interested and learning a new skill.  Plan lessons in Years 1 and 2 that help children moving up from Early Years Foundation Stage to build on their good start.

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Inspection of Broom Valley Community School, Rotherham, S60 2QU

You are already being very helpful to your teachers, but I would now like you to concentrate very hard on improving your handwriting and the way you set out your calculations in your mathematics books. Good luck for the future.

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Inspection of Broom Valley Community School, Rotherham, S60 2QU

John Rutherford 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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