The Beeches Primary School

Age group 4–11 Inspection date(s) 24–25 April 2012 Inspection number 378158 The Beeches Primary School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 110756 Local authority Peterborough Inspection number 378158 Inspection dates 24–25 April 2012 Lead inspector Graham Preston

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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 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 560 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Zaf Iqbal Headteacher Tim Smith Date of previous school inspection 25 February 2009 School address Beech Avenue Peterborough PE1 2EH Telephone number 01733 209877 Fax number 01733 209878 Email address secretary@beeches.peterborough.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

Peter Lacey-Hastings Additional inspector

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days’ notice. The inspection team observed 19 teachers in 25 lessons as well as carrying out several shorter observations of teaching and learning to listen to pupils read, evaluate the quality of pupils’ writing and observe the teaching of phonics (learning the sounds that letters make). Inspectors held meetings with representatives of the governing body and groups of pupils and staff. Inspectors observed the school’s work, and looked at a range of documentation, including that relating to safeguarding practices, the school’s self- evaluation and development planning. Inspectors took account of the views of parents and carers in 77 returned questionnaires.

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Information about the school

This is a much larger-than-average primary school that serves pupils from inner-city wards. Almost all pupils are from minority ethnic heritages and speak English as an additional language. Most pupils come from the local, established Pakistani community. An increasing proportion of pupils come from eastern Europe and Portugal; many join or leave all year groups throughout the school year. The school has an above-average proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported by school action plus or by a statement of special educational needs. The proportion of those known to be eligible for free school meals is above average. The school meets the current floor standards which are the government’s minimum standards for attainment and progress. The school is nearing the end of a major building extension and refurbishment enabling it to expand to three classes in each year group. In the last year, the school appointed an

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Information about the school

experienced deputy headteacher and expanded its senior leadership team. The school runs a daily breakfast club. It has a number of awards including the Activemark for sport, the Eco-School silver award, Basic Skills Mark, Inclusion Charter Mark, International Schools Award, Community Cohesion Award and Healthy Schools status. 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. It is welcoming and inclusive and enables its pupils to achieve satisfactorily. Positive developments include improved teaching and assessment, careful tracking of pupils’ progress and effective additional learning support. It is satisfactory rather than good because these changes have yet to fully impact on pupils’ achievement. 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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Key findings

 Improvements in the Reception class mean that children in the Early Years Foundation Stage make good progress. Pupils in Years 1 to 6 make satisfactory progress. Leaders’ purposeful action is contributing to improvements in progress and raising attainment, particularly in reading and mathematics.

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Key findings

 Teaching is satisfactory. There is an increasing amount of good practice, particularly in meeting the needs of the many pupils at an early stage of learning English – including those who come to the school at different times in the school year. Lessons are now mostly well planned, but teachers do not always use lesson time effectively or vary the challenge to meet the learning needs of all pupils. Marking is regular and encouraging, but does not always involve pupils in assessing how well they have done or show them how they can improve.

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Key findings

 Pupils are enthusiastically engaged in their learning and behave consistently well, despite the considerable disruption caused by building work. Attendance has significantly improved to be close to average; decisive action by the school has much reduced the number of parents and carers removing their children for unauthorised holidays.

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Key findings

 The headteacher and leadership team rigorously monitor and review all practice, and the impact is apparent in improved teaching. Year leaders work with colleagues to improve teaching and develop an enriching curriculum that 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

promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. The much- improved use of data to identify learning needs and good range of interventions and learning programmes, are helping the school make improvements in pupils’ achievement.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensuring that teaching and assessment practice is always good or better by:

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 in lessons, making full use of the learning support staff and providing sufficient time for pupils to tackle tasks and apply their new learning  providing more varied and challenging learning tasks matched to pupils’ widely different abilities and learning needs  ensuring marking practice makes greater use of pupils’ own assessment, consistently shows pupils how they can improve their work and follows up their efforts to improve it.

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Achievement of pupils

Parents and carers are positive about the progress their children are making. Inspectors recognise the improvements being made in pupils’ achievement but judge current progress to be satisfactory. Children and older pupils start school at different points in the school year with much lower literacy and numeracy skills than usual for their age groups nationally – particularly in language and communication. Most children who begin school in the Early Years Foundation Stage are of Pakistani heritage, and improvements in provision in the Reception class ensure pupils make good progress. This was evident in a Reception class where good practice in teaching phonics enabled children to make rapid progress in literacy, despite three quarters of children in the class starting school with little or no English. Even so, most still enter Year 1 with lower attainment than is typical.

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Achievement of pupils

In recent years, the progress of the large group of Pakistani heritage has matched that of similar heritage nationally. Pupils from Eastern Europe and Portugal, who often leave and join the school during different academic years, make satisfactory progress from very low starting points in language and communication, but attain standards considerably below those expected nationally by the end of Year 6. The drive to improve teaching and other adult support for learning over the last year is having considerable impact. In Years 1 and 2, pupils now make expected or better progress in reading, writing and mathematics and are on target to improve their attainment at the end of the key stage.

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Achievement of pupils

Attainment in reading in Years 1 and 2 is below average overall and low for those 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

pupils at an early stage of learning English. Inspectors observed considerable variation in those year groups reflecting the school intake though noted an increasing proportion of confident readers. In Years 4 to 6, pupils are now making at least expected progress in reading and better than expected progress in mathematics. Writing continues to be a comparatively weaker skill, although outcomes are close to the levels expected. An area of particular success is the use of one-to-one support and ‘reading buddies’, particularly in Year 6. This support is enabling pupils who are struggling with English to accelerate their progress in reading, writing and mathematics. This was evident in a Year 6 language support group where the skilled teacher enabled pupils at an early stage of English made good progress in developing their range of descriptive language. Consequently, a large proportion of the Year 6 cohort is on target to make the nationally expected rates of progress in

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Achievement of pupils

both English and mathematics. This was evident in a Year 6 class where pupils were able to work independently, improving their extended writing by incorporating more varied and imaginative use of adverbs and adjectives.

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Achievement of pupils

Reading standards for Pakistani heritage pupils are broadly average but below average for other pupils, some of who are still learning English as an additional language. Many of those with disabilities and those with special educational needs also have limited English language but effective school support ensures they make satisfactory progress and meet their targets. The school has success in integrating pupils with particular behavioural and emotional needs into mainstream lessons where they develop well socially, improve their attitudes to learning and make expected progress.

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Quality of teaching

Teaching is satisfactory rather than good because the best practice has yet to be fully developed across the school. Inspectors’ views differ from those of most parents and carers who think their children are well taught. Nonetheless, there is an increasing amount of good and better teaching that is successfully accelerating pupils’ progress. Pupils recognise this in their very positive response in meetings and questionnaires. All teachers are competent classroom practitioners and are well supported by skilled learning support staff; when used effectively these staff support those disabled pupils and others with special educational needs. Support staff also contribute well to phonics teaching and support pupils with their reading especially for those with limited English who have recently joined the school. Considerable progress has been made in ensuring lessons are well planned with interesting and

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Quality of teaching

engaging activities and clear learning purposes shared with the pupils. This was well illustrated in a Year 5 lesson on writing styles in which pupils interviewed a ‘passenger’ on the Titanic and produced a written report. The best teaching was demonstrated in a Year 4 lesson where highly animated and enthusiastic teaching generated a highly positive response from the class, providing them with excellent opportunities to develop their comprehension and speaking skills. All knew their current achievement levels, helped by detailed marking and wall displays showing their progress. The recent improvements pupils are now making in mathematics were also evident in a fast-paced Year 2 lesson developing pupils’ addition skills. The 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

teacher used an effective blend of methods to capture pupils’ interest and enthusiasm for learning – providing opportunities for them to solve problems collaboratively with varied tasks that challenged and helped all to move on from their various starting points.

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Quality of teaching

The school takes account of pupils’ cultural diversity by placing a strong emphasis on pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Wall displays show considerable class work celebrating the world community, reflected in its award as an International School. A strong focus on decision making and independence is evident in much lesson planning and a Year 3 personal, social and heath education lesson sensitively explored moral choices in terms of what were ‘wise’ and ‘unwise’ actions.

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Quality of teaching

Most teaching in the school utilises pupils’ enthusiasm and readiness to learn sufficiently well to ensure satisfactory progress. Occasionally, long sessions listening to the teacher result in underused support staff and insufficient time for pupils to complete their tasks and practise their skills; the targets identified and work set were not sufficiently varied to challenge all pupils. Marking of pupils’ work is regular, although teachers do not consistently include improvement points or check to see if pupils have corrected and improved it.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils behaved remarkably well during the inspection and moved around in an orderly and considerate manner in very difficult weather conditions. Inspection evidence found this was typical of behaviour over time. Pupils talk enthusiastically about school and grasp every opportunity to actively participate in lessons. Pupils are attentive in whole-class sessions, and readily cooperate with each other. Their behaviour for learning is very positive and they concentrate intently on their work, even when teaching is not inspiring. The school succeeds in integrating pupils from various heritages, including a few who take some time to adjust to school. Some of these have previous social and behavioural concerns and yet were seen by inspectors to well managed and making progress. Pupils appreciate this variety and the many friendship groups that cut across the different social and ethnic backgrounds are evident at lunch and in the playground. Despite building work on site, all parents and

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

carers believe their children are safe and inspection evidence endorsed their positive views on safety on the construction site during the period of the inspection. A few parents and carers are concerned about behaviour, but pupils themselves say they feel very safe in school. There is minimal evidence of any type of bullying, including cyber-bullying and prejudice-based bullying related to their religion, nationality or special educational needs. Parents and carers are right to value the safe and supportive ethos of the school. Attendance has significantly improved although it is still a little below average. This reflects continuing parental readiness to take their children out of school for extended periods. However, the school has succeeded in much reducing these absences, refusing many requests and pursuing unauthorised absence with considerable use of legal action. This has resulted in a marked

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

improvement over an extended period. 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

Pupils eagerly grasp opportunities to participate in the different school activities, including those that relate to the Eco-School and International School awards. They play an active part as ‘mini-mediators’ and respond well to opportunities that support their personal and social development. They sing with gusto in assemblies and as members of the school choir. This was evident in an assembly where 300 pupils quickly learned and sang a new African song with enormous enjoyment and energy. The school runs a well-attended breakfast club that provides a good range of activities.

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Leadership and management

The headteacher has the confidence of parents and carers, the governing body and staff and has successfully managed a period of school refurbishment and expansion while securing improvements in provision. The creation of year leaders has ensured greater staff involvement and ownership in the development of the school. The larger school leadership team is actively monitoring and evaluating school provision as part of school improvement with a positive impact on teaching quality. Changed leadership of the Early Years Foundation Stage has greatly improved the learning environment and together with good teaching, evident across all three classes, has enabled children to make good progress during the current year.

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Leadership and management

Year leaders are fully involved in developing a curriculum with a strong multicultural dimension. It celebrates different religions and cultures including, for example, Hindu weddings and bhangra dance, and involves links with Kenyan schools, much enhancing pupils’ self-confidence, social and cultural development.

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Leadership and management

The creation of carefully balanced year teams enables the best teachers to improve the practice of others through shared planning of learning, team teaching, peer mentoring and training. The role of the year heads, working with senior leaders, in regularly monitoring and evaluating teaching and assessment is steadily improving standards. The school provides well for the many pupils who come to the school with significant language and learning needs. The much-improved tracking of these and other pupils enables the school to accurately identify needs and devise suitable programmes of support to accelerate pupil progress. All pupils have equal opportunity to achieve. For example, those at an early stage of English language development and disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, all make similar progress to that of others. The school has secure arrangements to ensure that there is no discrimination of any sort.

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Leadership and management

Steady improvement in teaching quality and effective support for the many pupils entering the school with learning and language difficulties, contribute to improving achievement for all groups. Pupils’ positive attitudes to learning and significantly better attendance contribute well to their improving rates of progress. The school’s track record of performance demonstrates satisfactory capacity for further improvement. 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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Leadership and management

The school meets all safeguarding requirements. Staff carry out regular risk assessments related to the continuing building work and have staggered times for breaks and lunchtimes to better cope with increasing pupil numbers, given the currently limited play areas. The well-informed governing body is readily involved in school self-evaluation and development and is taking an increasingly active part in the life of the school.

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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 54 42 2 2 Primary schools 14 49 32 6 Secondary schools 20 39 34 7 Special schools 33 45 20 3 Pupil referral units 9 55 28 8 All schools 16 47 31 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 to 31 December 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 academy 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

Floor standards: the national minimum expectation of attainment and progression measures.

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

Inspection of The Beeches Primary School, Peterborough, PE1 2EH.

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

Thank you for making us so welcome when we came to visit your school and for telling us your views, in person and through the questionnaires some of you completed. Your school gives you a satisfactory and improving education, and ensures that most of you achieve satisfactorily by the time you leave.

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

The improving attendance of many of you shows that you like coming to school. In lessons, we could see that you enjoy working together and behave well. We were impressed by your keenness to be involved in discussions and answer questions in lessons. You all say you feel safe in school and appreciate the help and support you receive.

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

The inspectors spent most of the time looking at how well you are making progress and what could be improved. Teachers and teaching assistants do an important job in helping many of you improve your English. They also organise their lessons and other activities that make much of your learning interesting and even fun.

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

For the school to get even better, we have asked teachers to spend a little less time talking to you as a large group in order for you to spend more time completing your classwork. We also want some of your teachers to better match the work they give you to your current level of knowledge and skill. We were impressed with the care your teachers take to mark your work regularly and make positive comments. The best marking explained what you need to do next to improve your work and we have asked all teachers to do this and give you more time to follow their suggestions. This will help you improve your work so you can better meet your reading, writing and mathematics targets. You can help by always taking care to read and follow your teachers’ advice.

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

Thank you again for your help. Keep up your improved attendance and work hard.

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

Graham Preston Lead 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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