Fairfield Primary School

Fairfield Primary School Toton Lane, Stapleford, Nottingham, NG9 7HB

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This inspection: Good 2

Achievement of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.  All groups of pupils make good progress. As a result, they leave Year 6 with standards in English and mathematics which are above average.  Pupils’ achievement has improved well since the last inspection. This is a result of the increasingly good quality of teaching and learning.  Children make a strong start to their learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage. They benefit from well-planned and stimulating activities.  Teachers and teaching assistants ask skilful questions to deepen pupils’ understanding of their own learning and accelerate their progress. This is a consequence of good procedures to manage and improve teachers’ performance.  Good links between different subjects, such as geography, history and English, help to make learning relevant and exciting.  Pupils play and work well together and support each other. Their behaviour is good and they feel safe.  Leaders and managers at all levels contribute

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

well to the school’s development through good systems to measure and improve its effectiveness. The new, but experienced headteacher provides a clear direction to build further on these strengths.  The governing body is well informed and provides good support and challenge to the leadership.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 the activities pupils undertake during lessons do not always fully promote their thinking and reasoning skills. This means that pupils are not always challenged to make the best possible progress.  pupils do not always have the opportunity to use information and communication technology (ICT) as a tool for their learning.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed 23 lessons taught by 15 teachers, including two joint observations with members of the senior leadership team. They also made a number of short visits to classrooms.  Discussions were held with two groups of pupils, the Chair of the Governing Body and the Vice- Chair, a representative of the local authority and members of staff, including senior and middle leaders.  Inspectors took account of 59 response to the online questionnaire (Parents' View) and outcomes from the school's consultations with parents.  Inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at a range of documents, including data on pupils’ current and previous progress, school development, performance management documentation and records relating to pupils’ behaviour and safety.

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Inspection team

Andrew Clark, Lead inspector Additional inspector Verna Plummer Additional inspector Rena Saggu Additional inspector

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Information about this school

 Fairfield is larger than the average primary school.  The large majority of pupils are from White British families.  The proportion of pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals and for whom the school receives additional income (the pupil premium) is average.  The proportion of pupils supported by school action is average.  The proportion of pupils supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is below average.  The proportion of pupils who do not complete all their primary education at this school is much higher than usual. Approximately one-third of children join the school in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Two-thirds of pupils join the school in Year 3, transferring from a local infant school. A small proportion transfer to the school in Year 5.  The school meets the current ‘floor standards’, which set the Government’s minimum expectations for attainment and progress.

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Information about this school

 The headteacher took up the post at the start of the term during which the inspection took place.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the proportion of outstanding teaching in order to accelerate pupils’ progress further and to deepen their learning by:  ensuring activities consistently promote pupils’ thinking, reasoning and independent learning skills  providing consistent challenge to all groups of learners through the lesson.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Provide regular opportunities for pupils to use ICT as a tool for learning in different subjects.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 There has been a good trend of improvement in standards and progress for all pupils since the previous inspection. Standards in reading, writing and mathematics are above average by the end of Year 6 and increasingly so by the end of Year 2.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The progress made by pupils of all abilities is consistently good and sometimes outstanding for all age groups. This is a strong improvement from the previous inspection and reflects the good quality of teaching and the school’s sharper use of assessment data to set precise targets for pupils to achieve.

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The achievement of pupils is good

The school is successfully narrowing the gap between the achievement of pupils in receipt of pupil premium and others. This is because the leadership, supported by the governing body, has carefully matched well-planned teaching programmes to pupils’ needs to boost basic and other skills and closely monitor their effectiveness. On average, these pupils made more than a term’s progress in reading and writing than their peers.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make good progress. Staff carefully question these pupils to help them build systematically and securely on their earlier learning. Staff ensure that the pupils have access to a wide range of learning opportunities.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage make good or better progress in acquiring personal, social and early communication and numeracy skills. They join the school with skills which are generally typical for their age and are well prepared for future learning when they enter Year 1.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils read well. They acquire a good capacity to recognise patterns in words and link letters and sounds to help them identify unfamiliar words and read them accurately. Good exposure to a wide range of literature through activities such as ‘GIRAFFE’ (Good Readers at Fairfield) and use of the school library ensures that pupils read widely and have well developed skills of inference and deduction. However, their confidence in reading aloud is less well developed.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils acquire good learning skills overall. In particular, they learn to make decisions about what levels they are working at, especially in English and mathematics, and to aim higher to make better progress. However, occasionally their thinking and independent learning skills are limited by tasks which do not allow them to discover things for themselves or express their own ideas, including through the use of ICT.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Good transition arrangements and the accurate use of assessment ensure that pupils who join the school part of the way through their primary education settle in quickly and make good progress.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The effective role of middle and senior leaders in staff professional development means that the quality of teaching is now good. It is increasingly moving towards outstanding. The good quality of teaching makes a significant contribution to pupils’ good achievement.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers make good use of accurate assessment to set precise objectives for pupils to achieve in their lessons. As a result, teachers have high expectations for pupils of all abilities. This underpins the good quality of teaching.  In all lessons, teachers involve pupils well in judging their own level of work and making decisions about how to move to the next level. This deepens pupils’ learning and speeds their progress. Work is marked well and pupils are often involved in peer marking, where they check each other’s work. This also increases their understanding.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Occasionally, the activities in the lessons do not fully engage pupils in thinking for themselves and developing their independent learning skills. For example, some of the worksheets used provide too much information or have limited space for pupils to express their own ideas.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Very occasionally, teachers do not instill enough challenge and sense of urgency at all points of the lesson to ensure pupils make the very best progress of which they are capable.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Classrooms are bright and stimulating. Teachers make good use of displays, often involving pupils’ work, to provide useful points of reference for learning.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching assistants are skilful and extremely well deployed. They work with all groups of learners, especially those whose progress needs boosting. Like the teachers, they question pupils in ways that allow them to explain their thinking and reflect on their learning. This contributes well to progress made by the most able pupils and those needing support.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils are polite and friendly because teachers manage behaviour well and there is a warm and friendly school atmosphere. Pupils feel very proud of their school.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils are considerate of the needs of others. They respond well to strong moral and social guidance, through assemblies and personal, social and religious education.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils contribute to establishing school rules and promoting good attitudes through their roles as peer buddies and school councillors. They are punctual and attendance is above average.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Parents and pupils appreciate teachers’ high expectations for good behaviour. There have been no exclusions and poor behaviour is rare. The school works closely with parents, providing training and support to manage behaviour and relationships.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils have a good understanding of different types of bullying, including cyber-bullying, and feel that very little occurs. The school keeps detailed records of the rare examples of disruptive behaviour and takes timely and effective action. As a result, pupils say they feel safe and well cared for at school. They firmly believe teachers have their best interests at heart and they respond well to that.

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The leadership and management are good

 Since the last inspection, the school has built consistently on the strengths of leadership at all levels. Middle and subject leaders, including leaders of the Early Years Foundation Stage and of special educational needs, are fully accountable for progress and provision. They use a wide range of monitoring and assessment procedures to evaluate and secure improvements.

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The leadership and management are good

 Senior leaders establish clear and challenging policies and protocols to guide school improvement and teachers’ professional development. These are based on accurate and well-informed self-evaluation.

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The leadership and management are good

 There are good systems for mentoring, supporting and coaching teachers and leaders in their roles. This ensures smooth transition for new staff and changes of leadership.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school's analysis and use of assessment data has improved well. Senior leaders make very good use of precise measures of the progress of different groups of learners to hold middle leaders and teachers accountable for the effectiveness of teaching and learning. This has ensured, for example, that the achievement of pupils in receipt of pupil premium is improving.

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The leadership and management are good

 The new headteacher, who brings significant experience to the role, has refined the use of assessment further in managing teachers’ performance and setting even more challenging targets to move the school towards outstanding. The headteacher receives strong support from the deputy headteacher, particularly in robust monitoring and the management of assessment.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school promotes equality of opportunity well and is fully inclusive. Staff morale is high and all are keen to develop further.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school works well with parents through consultation and training. Consequently, parents have positive views of the school.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority provides appropriate light touch support to this good school. The school has also received challenging support over time from an independent consultant.

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The leadership and management are good

 The curriculum is exciting and engaging in most respects. There are good links between subjects which set learning in context. Good use is made of visits and visitors to promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. This is reflected in the school’s International School award and Healthy Schools status.

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The leadership and management are good

 Most of the learning for ICT is based in the computer suite and there are too few opportunities for pupils to use ICT independently as a tool for learning in other subjects.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school works well in partnerships with other local primary, infant and secondary schools, as well as initial teaching training links. These partnerships have had a positive impact on the professional development of teachers and the use of assessment.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  is well informed of strengths in pupils’ progress and the quality of teaching and the governing body is involved effectively in setting the strategic direction for school improvement  ensures that finances are well managed and matched closely to priorities with increasingly effective use being made of the pupil premium to improve achievement.

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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

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Grade Judgement Description

is 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 122552 Local authority Nottinghamshire Inspection number 402103

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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 Community Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 412 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Donna Radforth Headteacher Emma Stacey Date of previous school inspection 29 June 2010 Telephone number 0115 9179266 Fax number 0115 9179866 Email address headteacher@fairfield.notts.sch.uk 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,

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School details

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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School details

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

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