Broseley CofE Primary School

Broseley CE Primary School Dark Lane, Broseley, TF12 5LW

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Requires improvement 3 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Leadership and management Requires improvement 3

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This is a school that requires improvement. It is not good because

 Too few pupils, especially in the middle-ability range, make better than expected progress.  The pace of learning slows in Years 3 to 6 because work is not always set at the right level for each pupil, especially in writing and in mathematics.  Pupils do not have enough opportunities to write on their own, or to extend their writing skills in longer pieces of work.  Spelling mistakes recur too often, and are sometimes found in the worksheets pupils use.  The quality of teaching is inconsistent and sometimes inadequate, and marking rarely helps pupils see how to improve their work.  Teachers do not make enough use of information about pupils’ attainment when planning their lessons.  School leaders are taking action to improve teaching and learning, but it is too early to assess its impact. Teachers who are responsible for specific subjects are not yet doing enough to improve them.  Governors do not yet fully check on how well

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The school has the following strengths

 Children make good progress in learning letters and sounds in the Reception class.  Pupils did well in the 2012 Key Stage 1 reading tests.  Attendance is above average. Pupils feel very safe, behave well, enjoy school and want to succeed.  The school’s well-focused development plan sets a clear agenda for improvement.  Under the headteacher’s direction, and with the developing teamwork among the staff, the way teaching is checked is improving.  Teachers know what is expected of them and are working hard to meet their targets.  Links with parents and with the local community are very positive.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed teaching in all classes. They visited 16 lessons, six with the headteacher. Play and lunchtimes were also observed, and the breakfast club was visited.  Discussions were held with pupils, five members of the governing body, staff, including those with management responsibilities, and the school’s link adviser from the local authority.  The views of 14 parents were analysed through the Parent View website. Other parents’ views were sought at the start of the school day.  Inspectors scrutinised a wide range of documents, including the school improvement plan and the beginning of the new self-evaluation form. They also examined the work in pupils’ books.

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Inspection team

Doris Bell, Lead inspector Additional inspector Beverley Mabey Additional inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  The proportion of pupils at school action is well below average. The proportion supported at school action plus, or with a statement of special educational needs, is average.  An average proportion of pupils are eligible for the pupil premium, which provides additional funding for children in local authority care and pupils known to be eligible for free school meals.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.  The school runs its own breakfast club. A pre-school, a nursery and a Sure Start children’s centre share the school’s site. They are inspected separately.  A new headteacher took up post at the start of this term.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Secure consistently good teaching by:  raising teachers’ expectations of what pupils, especially those in the middle-ability range, can achieve, and ensuring that pupils always have work that can secure their good progress  capitalising on the pupils’ good behaviour and willingness to learn by giving them more opportunities to work independently  ensuring that marking shows pupils how to improve, and that all pupils understand their targets and what they need to do to reach the next level  ensuring that assessment information is used more effectively to accelerate pupils’ learning.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise achievement in mathematics by:  giving pupils more opportunities to use their mathematical learning to solve real-life mathematical problems  ensuring teachers model for pupils how to lay work out properly, and, especially for pupils in Years 1 and 2, how to write numerals correctly.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise achievement in writing by:  giving pupils more opportunities to write independently and at length  correcting pupils’ spelling and ensuring that teachers always spell correctly.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the impact of leadership and management on teaching and learning by:  giving the new management teams the skills needed to hold teachers to account for pupils’ progress in all subjects  making the curriculum more exciting for pupils and giving them opportunities to determine some of their own learning within it  ensuring the governing body keeps a close check on how well the school is doing and challenges it to do even better.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Children start school with skills below the levels expected for their age. They make good progress in learning letters and sounds, and in reading. Writing, communication and calculation skills remain weak. Not enough children reached a good level of development in 2012.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 By the end of Year 2, attainment overall is broadly average in reading, writing and mathematics. Pupils were observed to make better progress in lessons in Year 2 than in Year 1.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 In Key Stage 2, although pupils made good progress in some lessons observed, over time progress has not been sufficiently rapid to raise standards. In particular, middle-ability pupils do not make the gains in learning needed to secure good progress. Fewer pupils make better than expected progress in writing or mathematics than is found nationally.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Overall attainment is broadly average. The proportion of pupils reaching the higher Level 5 in the national tests was above average in reading and writing in 2012, but below in mathematics. The proportion reaching the expected Level 4 in English and mathematics, both separately and combined, was slightly below the national average.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils enjoy reading. Most read confidently, and older pupils read widely. They understand what they read and can talk about the meaning behind the written word. Younger pupils use their developing knowledge of letters and sounds to read unfamiliar words but they and older pupils do not routinely apply this knowledge to spell correctly.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils use their writing targets when writing in different subjects, and were able to explain to inspectors why it is important to do so. They seldom write at length in literacy or elsewhere. Writing is sometimes left unfinished, and the tasks pupils are given are rarely modified to suit their different levels of ability. Grammar, punctuation and sentence construction are usually accurate.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils do not always set mathematical work out carefully to show their understanding of, for example, hundreds, tens and units, or how to write number sentences. The use of mathematical skills to solve real-life mathematical problems, although a recent focus, is underdeveloped. Pupils rarely use their mathematical skills in other subjects, and they are not secure about how mathematical learning is assessed, or how to improve it.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, and others who need support, benefit from the extra help they receive, particularly when working in smaller groups with teaching or support staff. However, the progress of those supported by pupil premium funding is still too slow and the gap in attainment between these and other pupils is greater than that found nationally.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 There is not enough good teaching to speed up pupils’ progress. Consequently, progress remains sluggish through the school, only quickening in Year 6. A common weakness in lessons is that tasks that do not take enough account of what individual pupils need to learn next.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers convey consistently high expectations of pupils’ behaviour, but not of their rates of progress. Tasks are too often the same for all pupils, and this usually results in more-able pupils doing more work, and less-able pupils doing less.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Although stimulating introductions to lessons were observed, the tasks that followed were sometimes mundane. Where learning is too controlled, there is little scope for pupils to work independently, or show what they know and can do. In a Year 1 lesson, for example, a well- planned introduction was intended to lead to pupils writing a poem. Instead, all pupils filled in the same worksheet with the same words, and were prevented from writing creatively.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 A typical feature of the good lessons observed was teachers’ effective questioning. It probed pupils’ thinking, extended their learning, and showed them how to use what they already know when learning something new. Teachers do not routinely use this approach. In mathematics, for example, pupils do not use their mathematical skills well enough to investigate and solve problems.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The teaching of phonics – the sounds that letters make – is broadly effective. However, not all adults are secure in phonics teaching methods and this can result in confusion, particularly for less-able pupils.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Marking praises pupils’ efforts but rarely shows them what to do next. Pupils have targets for writing, which they use when they write in different subjects, but the targets are not routinely referred to when their work is marked, or when further work is planned. This limits their effectiveness.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Reception children settle quickly because of the good links the school has with parents and with the nursery and pre-school. Children get on well together, take turns, share equipment and respond positively to adults. They enjoy learning, especially when they can select some activities themselves, and they set about their tasks with curiosity and enthusiasm.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils feel very safe in school. They are respectful, caring and reflective, and have a strong sense of fairness and equality. They say, for example, that it is wrong to call others names, whatever their background, because ‘After all, we are all the same, aren’t we, and everyone should be treated equally.’

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils are aware of the dangers they may face. They have a good knowledge of internet safety and the potential for bullying that it presents, including through social networking sites. They learn to stay safe out of school, for example on the roads, and are keenly aware of ‘stranger danger’.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school strongly promotes the anti-bullying charter that the pupils have drawn up. Pupils know the difference between bullying, such as persistent name-calling, pushing and shoving, and occasionally falling out. They do not know of any bullying having occurred. They say staff always respond swiftly to their concerns, and act quickly and fairly to prevent poor behaviour.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The pupils’ good levels of concentration ensure that, in lessons, most persevere and finish their tasks. Sometimes pupils lose interest because the tasks are not demanding enough, or they finish them quickly and have to wait for others or for the teacher before they can move on. They have too few opportunities to work independently and use their initiative.  Prefects and school councillors value the opportunities to help improve the school by, for example, keeping pupils safe at break and lunchtimes, and taking pupils’ views to the headteacher. Pupils are confident that their views are valued and their concerns acted upon. The well-attended breakfast club provides a good start to the day for many pupils.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The headteacher has carried out an accurate and thorough review of school performance and has already taken steps to improve teaching and learning. Her clarity of vision has given the school clear direction, which staff and the governing body fully support. She has already raised accountability among the staff by observing all classes, giving good advice and guidance, and setting clear timescales for checking the impact of agreed actions on pupils’ progress.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Local authority support has been ‘light-touch’. The school took part in English and mathematics projects to improve teaching and learning in those subjects. The impact of that involvement has not been followed up to ensure the projects have brought measurable benefits to all pupils.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school’s tracking system now includes information about individual pupils. However, the progress made by different groups of pupils, for example those who need extra help or those for whom it receives extra money, is not systematically analysed. The new computerised system currently being set up has the potential to do this.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Subject responsibilities are in the process of being devolved to three teams, each led by a senior manager. Currently, teachers with responsibilities do not fulfil their roles well enough in monitoring and improving teaching and learning. Performance management targets supporting the priorities in the school development plan have been accepted by staff. There is evidence that they are working purposefully towards achieving them, although it is too early to assess their impact on pupils’ learning.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Different subjects are brought together in themes, but the skills to be developed in each one, including literacy and numeracy, are not clearly enough identified. Pupils’ views are not sought in order to include their interests and make learning more meaningful for them. Visits, visitors and very popular extra-curricular activities, some of which the pupils run, support pupils’ learning well and promote their spiritual, moral and social development.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Broader aspects of learning, such as cultural and global awareness, are promoted through religious education, the arts, visits to different places in Britain, learning about sustainability, and a study of Fair Trade. Overall, however, pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is not yet promoted routinely in different subjects.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The governance of the school:  Governance requires improvement because governors have not taken action soon enough to bring positive changes in the school’s performance. Governors now have an accurate and first- hand view of how well the school is performing and recognise there are issues with pupils’ progress. However, they are not yet keeping a close eye on how well pupil premium funding is being used. Governors are vigilant in promoting equality of opportunity by ensuring that all pupils can take part in everything the school has to offer, and discrimination of any kind is not tolerated. They also ensure safeguarding procedures, including those for child protection, meet requirements and all training is up to date.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding An outstanding school is highly effective in delivering outcomes that provide exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. This ensures that pupils are very well equipped for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 2 Good A good school is effective in delivering outcomes that provide well for all its pupils’ needs. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 3 Requires improvement A school that requires improvement is not yet a good school, but it is not inadequate. This school will receive a full inspection within 24 months from the date of this inspection. Grade 4 Inadequate A school that has serious weaknesses is inadequate overall and requires significant improvement but leadership and management are judged to be Grade 3 or better. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors. A school that requires special measures is one where the school is

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Grade Judgement Description

failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the school’s leaders, managers or governors have not demonstrated that they have the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors.

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School details

Unique reference number 123523 Local authority Shropshire Inspection number 403532

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School details

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

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School details

Type of school Primary School category Voluntary controlled Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 195 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Chris Cannon Headteacher Sarah Passey Date of previous school inspection 19 September 2007 Telephone number 01952 882673 Fax number 01952 883606 Email address head.broseleyce@shropshirelg.net guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', 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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School details

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 and as part of the inspection.

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School details

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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School details

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 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

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School details

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School details

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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