Bursley Academy

Age group 3–11 Inspection date(s) 16–17 May 2012 Inspection number 399617 Bursley Primary School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 138043 Local authority N/A Inspection number 399617 Inspection dates 16–17 May 2012 Lead inspector Susan Barkway

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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 Academy School category Non-maintained Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 336 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Trevor Hambleton Headteacher Stephen Cooper Date of previous school inspection N/A School address Bursley Way Bradwell Newcastle ST5 8JQ Telephone number 01782 297715 Fax number 01782 297717 Email address office@bursley.staffs.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

This inspection was carried out with two days’ notice. Inspectors visited 20 lessons, spending approximately 11 hours in classrooms, and observed all teachers. In addition, the inspectors heard pupils read and scrutinised their workbooks. Meetings were held with representatives from the governing body, staff and pupils. Questionnaire responses from 153 parents and carers were analysed, together with 100 responses from pupils and 17 from staff. Inspectors scrutinised the arrangements and records kept by the school to safeguard pupils and also looked at the school’s monitoring records, self-evaluation and improvement plan, as well as assessment data that teachers use to monitor pupils’ progress.

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Information about the school

The school became an academy on 1 April 2012. It is a larger-than-average primary school, serving an area of mixed housing. Almost all pupils are of White British heritage and only a small number of pupils are at the early stages of learning English as an additional language. The number of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is below the national average, as is the proportion of pupils supported by school action plus or with a statement of educational needs.

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Information about the school

The school meets the current floor standards which are the minimum standards expected by the government for pupils’ attainment and progress. -

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Information about the school

The school has gained the Eco School award, International School status, the Healthy Eating award, Green awards, Forest School status and the Dyslexia Friendly award. The school accommodates a privately managed club before and after school, which is inspected separately. 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 an outstanding school. It provides excellent opportunities for the pupils to thrive, develop and achieve exceptionally well. The school is focused very sharply on a constant drive for improvement and a willingness to take immediate action to eradicate any weaknesses.

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Key findings

 By the end of Year 6, attainment in reading, writing and mathematics is significantly above national averages and pupils’ progress from their various starting points is outstanding. These high standards have been maintained over the last three years.

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Key findings

 Teaching is outstanding and this makes a significant contribution to pupils’ exceptional rate of progress. Teachers have high expectations of pupils and use a wide range of strategies to engage and motivate them. Work is well matched to the needs of the pupils and expectations for learning are clear. As a result, pupils are challenged to aim high in their work, and make consistently rapid progress in all lessons. Not all teachers make the best use of challenging targets, or encourage pupils consistently well to learn from their own mistakes.

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Key findings

 The school is a safe, very calm and orderly community where pupils thoroughly enjoy the wide range of exciting activities on offer and take full responsibility for their own learning when encouraged to do so. The school has effective systems for managing behaviour and for encouraging pupils to take care of each other and their surroundings.

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Key findings

 Leaders have a clear vision for the school and high expectations of what every pupil and teacher can achieve. Through rigorous analysis of performance, leaders identify any potential underachievement at an early stage and their careful monitoring ensures that interventions have a positive impact on pupils’ outcomes. Excellent promotion of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development enables them to thrive in a supportive, cohesive learning community. 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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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the proportion of outstanding teaching by:  further developing the use of aspirational targets which are understood by pupils and shared with parents and carers  always ensuring that pupils are given the opportunity to consolidate their learning by correcting or revisiting errors and misconceptions.

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Achievement of pupils

Almost all parents and carers say that their children are taught well and are making good progress at the school. Inspectors judged that the achievement of pupils is outstanding. Pupils’ attainment and progress by the end of Key Stage 2 are significantly above national averages in all subjects. There is no significant difference in the achievement of different groups, and the school is particularly effective in narrowing the gap in attainment between disabled pupils and those with special educational needs and all other pupils. Early identification of pupils who are not making expected progress, followed by carefully targeted booster sessions or one-to- one support and rigorous tracking of the impact of any intervention, result in these pupils making accelerated progress.

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Achievement of pupils

Attainment on entry to the nursery is below age-related expectations. All children make at least good progress throughout the Early Years Foundation Stage, with a significant number making outstanding progress. Almost all children currently in the Early Years Foundation Stage are on target to reach or exceed age-related expectations across all six areas of the early years curriculum. This is a result of outstanding teaching, and regular ongoing assessments followed by well-planned interventions.

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Achievement of pupils

In Key Stage 1, pupils continue to make consistently good progress. Almost all pupils at the end of Key Stage 1 are able to use a range of strategies to read and spell words and their writing and mathematical skills are developing exceptionally well. For example, in one lesson, pupils were able to write confidently when acting as journalists reporting on an earthquake, using technical terms such as tectonic plate accurately and with understanding.

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Achievement of pupils

Throughout Key Stage 2, pupils make rapid and sustained progress and typically leave the school at least a year ahead of national averages in English and mathematics. Pupils in Key Stage 2 are developing a wide range of skills, including an understanding of financial capability and business enterprise. Almost all pupils read a variety of texts fluently and with understanding and older pupils are able to skim and scan for information and use this effectively in their writing. Pupils are able to apply their mathematical skills confidently to solve problems. For example, in one 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

outstanding lesson, pupils solved open-ended challenges requiring knowledge of the properties of shapes. Pupils were fully engaged in the activity, took responsibility for their own learning and that of others and, as a result, made excellent progress.

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Quality of teaching

A number of parents and carers commented that the teaching staff are passionate about teaching and the children they teach. Almost all parents and carers agree that their child is taught well and their needs are met. A scrutiny of pupils’ work, discussion with pupils and lessons observed during the inspection, show that teaching is outstanding.

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Quality of teaching

In the Early Years Foundation Stage, very effective planning and accurate assessment ensure that the needs of individual children are met and that all children make rapid progress in their learning. The stimulating learning environment, combined with a wide range of creative and well-targeted activities, means that children are keen to learn and basic skills of speaking and listening, reading, writing, counting and calculation are developing well. For example, children inventing a new chocolate bar for Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory were able to use their knowledge of phonics (the sounds that letters make) to read words such as zing, tangy and crackle and to write a recipe, spelling many words accurately. Children demonstrate their growing ability to sustain concentration and to work independently, with unobtrusive but very effective adult support guiding them through their learning.

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Quality of teaching

Teaching, throughout the school, is characterised by good relationships, accurate ongoing assessment of pupils’ progress and activities that are well matched to pupils’ needs. Teachers plan well and use imaginative approaches to ensure that pupils are motivated and excited to learn. For example, the aftermath of an earthquake was recreated in one classroom, in another a French market was in full swing, and in another, teachers demonstrated a toy to captivate pupils’ interest and stimulate writing using persuasive language. As a result, pupils are keen to learn and respond positively to challenge, engaging enthusiastically with the learning activities in the classroom. The intervention and support for disabled pupils and those with special educational needs are particularly effective, with all teaching staff having a good understanding of how to help these pupils to progress well in their learning.

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Quality of teaching

Pupils understand their learning targets in English and mathematics, and know what they need to do to improve their work. Marking is effective and generally pupils are given the opportunity to correct their work in order to consolidate their learning. The recent introduction of ‘passport to success’ as a strategy for setting aspirational targets, which are easily understood by the pupils and can be shared with parents and carers, is further developing pupils’ ability to accurately self-assess and improve their work. However, these approaches are not yet fully embedded throughout the school.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

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 say that they feel very safe in the school and really enjoy their lessons. All parents and carers agree that their child feels safe and almost all believe that behaviour is good. Inspectors judged that behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils are polite and welcoming to visitors, showing high levels of respect and care for each other, and are developing a mature understanding of how to take responsibility for their own learning and that of others. High expectations of behaviour are demonstrated throughout the school. The use of behaviour reminders incorporated into displays, such as ‘We love to learn’ and ‘Your behaviour affects everyone’ in an art display, demonstrates how every opportunity is taken to reinforce these high expectations. On the rare occasions when inappropriate behaviour occurs, teachers manage it very well and pupils are very aware of the rewards and sanctions for dealing with behaviour issues. Pupils have a good understanding of what ‘bullying’ means and they say that it is extremely rare in their school. They know about the different forms bullying can take and what to do if they are being bullied, and can explain how bullying is dealt with highly effectively if it does occur.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

In all lessons seen, pupils were fully engaged, contributed well to partner or group work and concentrated when working independently. In a ‘Forest School’ session, pupils confidently took responsibility for managing teams when they were set the task of planning and building shelters, and all pupils cooperated and helped each other. Pupils are given responsibility and they carry out their roles with impressive maturity. For example, older pupils take great care of a number of school pets, including two snakes, and others run the school library or act as ‘Friendship’ prefects in the playground. Pupils’ attendance is consistently above average and they arrive at school and to their lessons punctually.

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Leadership and management

The pursuit of excellence in all of the school’s activities is demonstrated by an uncompromising and highly successful drive to continue to improve achievement. The headteacher provides strong leadership and all leaders, including governors, make a strong contribution to improving pupils’ achievement and the quality of teaching. For example, members of the governing body, as well as senior and middle leaders, are involved in monitoring and evaluating the quality of teaching and tracking pupils’ progress at whole-school, group and individual level on a half-termly basis. In addition, reports from external consultants are used to moderate internal assessments. As a result, all leaders have an accurate understanding of the strengths of the school as well as priorities for further development. Performance management procedures are robust and, along with effective and innovative approaches to continuous professional development, have resulted in significant improvements to

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Leadership and management

the quality of teaching over time. The progress made by senior leaders in improving teaching and achievement demonstrates the school’s good capacity for sustained improvement.

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Leadership and management

The curriculum provides highly positive, memorable experiences and contributes very 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

well to pupils’ achievement and to their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. For example, pupils design and plant flower beds for the local crematorium and they design and build racing cars that they take to national races. During the inspection, pupils were buying and selling fruit at a simulated French market, extending their knowledge of the French language and culture as well as their mathematical skills. Careful consideration has been given to how literacy, numeracy, and information and communication technology can be developed across the curriculum, and a wide range of other opportunities contributes to pupils’ learning and social development.

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Leadership and management

Parents and carers are given good opportunities to be involved in the work of the school and to talk to teachers. For example, parent network meetings that take place in the Early Years Foundation Stage once every half term provide good opportunities to review learning journals and discuss the progress children are making.

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Leadership and management

The school promotes equality very well and tackles discrimination whenever it occurs. Arrangements for safeguarding meet current requirements and ensure that pupils feel safe.

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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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Inspection of Bursley Primary School, Newcastle ST5 8JQ

Thank you so much for the very warm welcome you gave the inspection team when we came to your school recently. We enjoyed every minute of our time with you. A special ‘thank you’ to those of you who came to talk to us about your work and told us about the wonderful things you are involved in. Thank you also to those of you who completed questionnaires. Here are some of the really good things we found out about your school.

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Inspection of Bursley Primary School, Newcastle ST5 8JQ

 Your headteacher and all the staff work very hard to provide you with the best education possible.  You are making excellent progress in your learning. You leave the school with standards in reading, writing and mathematics that are higher than most pupils of the same age. This is because your teachers teach you very well and also because you work very hard and listen to your teachers.  We were particularly impressed with your behaviour and the way in which you helped each other to learn. We saw how the older pupils cared for and helped younger pupils, and how you all considered the need to be quiet and considerate to the school animals, particularly when the snake laid eggs!  The very best thing about your school, apart from your excellent behaviour and attitudes to learning, is that learning is fun. Your teachers plan interesting and challenging activities for you which help you to learn quickly and which you

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Inspection of Bursley Primary School, Newcastle ST5 8JQ

Even though you go to an outstanding school, your headteacher, governors and teachers want to make it even better. We have asked them to make sure that all of you understand your targets and know how to improve your work, and are always given time to do so.

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Inspection of Bursley Primary School, Newcastle ST5 8JQ

We know you will continue to do your very best and we wish you every success in the future.

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Inspection of Bursley Primary School, Newcastle ST5 8JQ

Susan Barkway 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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