Samuel Allsopp Primary and Nursery School

Victoria Community School Victoria Road, Burton-on-Trent, DE14 2LU

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Satisfactory 3 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.  Pupils achieve well, and their attainment has risen by the end of Year 6.  High-quality and timely extra support enables disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs to do well in the mainstream classes.  Support for pupils in the Speech and Language Centre is similarly effective.  Pupils are taught well, particularly in Key Stage 2, where outstanding teaching enables Year 6 pupils to make rapid gains in their learning.  The good quality of the school’s guidance and pastoral support systems ensures pupils’ good behaviour, safety and wellbeing.  Attendance has improved steadily.  The better ways in which leaders, including governors, now check on how well the school is performing have helped to drive improvement since the last inspection.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Not enough of the more able pupils reach the higher National Curriculum levels in their work in English and mathematics.  A few weaknesses in teaching and the use of reading texts hold back the development of younger pupils’ literacy skills.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 20 lessons or part-lessons taught by 13 teachers and/or teaching assistants. Two of these lessons were joint observations with the headteacher. Samples of pupils’ written work in English were analysed. An inspector listened, together with the headteacher, to some Year 2 pupils reading.  Meetings were held with a group of pupils, the Chair of the Governing Body, school staff, including senior and middle leaders, and a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors took account of the five responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View), letters from parents and carers, and the 32 questionnaires completed by staff in forming their judgements. An inspector spoke to several parents and carers on the playground.  Inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at a range of other documents. These included self-evaluation documents, the school’s own data on pupils’ progress, and policies,

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Information about this inspection

procedures and records relating to safeguarding, behaviour and attendance.

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Inspection team

Derek Aitken, Lead inspector Additional inspector Derek Gardiner Additional inspector Rowena Green Additional inspector

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Information about this school

 Victoria is larger than most primary schools. The number of pupils on roll has recently risen considerably.  Two thirds of the pupils are of Pakistani heritage. An increasing number of pupils are joining the school from Eastern European and other backgrounds. Four fifths of the pupils speak English as an additional language and a significant number are at an early stage of language acquisition.  The proportion of pupils who join or leave partway through their primary school education is well above average, especially in the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1.  Almost one quarter of the pupils are known to be eligible for additional funding through the ‘pupil premium’, which is a little higher than the national average.  The proportion of pupils supported at ‘school action’ is below average. The proportion of pupils supported at ‘school action plus’ or with a statement of special educational needs is high.

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Information about this school

 The school manages a specially resourced provision for pupils with special educational needs – the Speech and Language Centre (SLC) – on behalf of the local authority. The SLC provides places for up to 25 pupils in Key Stages 1 and 2 with profound language difficulties. Currently 23 pupils benefit from this facility. They also attend mainstream classes where appropriate.  The school provides for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage through two part-time Nursery classes, a Reception class and a mixed Reception/Year 1 class.  The school meets the current government floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ learning and progress.  The school has Healthy Schools status, Dyslexia Friendly (Full) status and its other awards include Artsmark (Gold).

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Strengthen further the quality of teaching and raise pupils’ attainment at the higher levels by making sure that more able pupils regularly receive challenging work which is closely matched to their needs.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the achievement of younger pupils by:  making sure that teachers consistently question pupils well to develop their speaking and listening skills more effectively.  selecting texts for pupils which are closely matched to their abilities and allow them to practise and develop their reading skills more quickly.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Most children enter Nursery with very low levels of skills and knowledge. By the end of Reception and Key Stage 1, the gap with national expectations is starting to close but few pupils attain the higher levels in literacy and numeracy.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Many pupils join school from other settings or abroad before the end of Year 2, some with no previous knowledge of English. Some pupils take extended periods of leave in Pakistan. Pupils in the well-run SLC have low levels of language skills. These factors combine to hold back pupils’ achievement before the end of Key Stage 1.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 In addition, some opportunities are missed in lessons to develop younger pupils’ speaking and listening skills. While less able pupils in Year 2 understand clearly how they should try to sound out tricky words, reading texts are not always closely matched to their ability levels and this slows their progress.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 All groups of pupils, including those known to be eligible for additional funds, achieve well over time. They make faster progress in Key Stage 2, especially in Year 6. The attainment of mainstream pupils in Year 6 has risen considerably in the last two years. It was above average in 2012 in both English and mathematics at the nationally expected Level 4. However, the proportion of pupils who attain the higher Level 5, especially in English, is below average.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Well-structured planning in Key Stage 2 is providing an increasing range of enjoyable opportunities for pupils to acquire self-confidence and to practise and extend their basic skills in different subjects. Enrichment activities, such as Viking Day, capture pupils’ imagination. Pupils make excellent use of these opportunities to develop their oral, thinking and teamwork skills.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Early and precise identification of needs, close tracking, expert teaching and skilful management enable disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs in both the mainstream and SLC classes to make good progress.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 New arrivals, especially those from Eastern Europe, benefit from skilled bilingual support to help them to quickly become fluent in English. They make fast progress as their native language is skilfully interwoven with English to ensure that they are constantly absorbed in their learning.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Most teaching is good, especially in Key Stage 2. In Years 3 to 6, teachers’ efficient classroom organisation and expert teaching underpin pupils’ good progress. Teachers use assessment information and resources carefully, and this enables most groups of pupils to work at a brisk pace.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Older pupils respond well to these strong expectations and steadily become capable of working productively and taking responsibility for their learning. Teachers in Years 5 and 6 make excellent use of marking ladders and individual targets to encourage pupils to think about their work and decide what they need to do next to improve.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching is outstanding in Year 6. Other adults work exceptionally well with the highly knowledgeable teacher to drive pupils’ learning.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Good relationships and effective insights into ancient customs and history ensure that teaching makes a good contribution to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs are supported well, especially during small group or one-to-one extra help sessions. Pupils in the SLC do especially well when staff set clear expectations for their progress and use time well. This was shown when younger pupils made good use of opportunities to put sounds into words and explain their ideas about estimating and measuring sizes and distances.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching below Key Stage 2 is also good, but less consistently so. This is partly due to some discontinuity in staffing. In addition, teachers are still gaining experience in working with reorganised classes or year groups which are new to them. Questions addressed to the whole class are sometimes not varied enough to promote pupils’ speaking skills, develop good listening habits and ensure they sustain their concentration.

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The quality of teaching is good

 On a few occasions, minor weaknesses in lesson planning and/or organisation slow the pace of learning and provide insufficient challenge, particularly for more able pupils.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils are friendly and polite. Most behave well in public areas and around school. Several children in the Early Years Foundation Stage have not yet developed the social and language skills to enable them to work and to play well with their peers when not directly supervised by the teacher.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils enjoy school and have good relationships with staff. The very positive attitudes pupils steadily acquire contribute markedly to their learning and progress. Older pupils behave maturely and concentrate fully on the tasks they undertake independently. Teachers capitalise on these strengths to encourage pupils to work cooperatively, and to become more self- confident and more clearly aware of their talents.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils trust adults and say that they feel safe in the school’s secure and well-maintained grounds. Older pupils value the recent training they have had to act as peer mentors. Pupils report that behaviour is not always ‘tip-top’, for example when pupils use name-calling to annoy other pupils, but instances of poor behaviour are dealt with quickly and effectively by staff.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils respond positively to the school’s revised behaviour code, including the ‘good to be green’ element, to take responsibility for their behaviour.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils in the SLC mix well with mainstream pupils. Some pupils, including those whose language difficulties cause them frustration, display challenging behaviour. These pupils are successfully encouraged by staff to socialise with others. The pupil mentor works effectively with individual pupils to enable them to modify and improve their behaviour. The number of exclusions has considerably reduced.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 School records, including case studies, indicate that very effective pastoral and academic support has been a crucial factor in helping many pupils who are at risk of not doing well to close gaps in attainment with their peers.  Leaders have been successful in improving pupils’ attendance from low to broadly average over the last few years. The bilingual skills of the attendance and admissions officer, and well- considered initiatives to engage with ‘hard-to-reach’ and newly arrived parents and carers, have underpinned this improvement.

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The leadership and management are good

 Leaders direct the work of the school successfully. Priority areas identified at the previous inspection have been tackled well. Monitoring arrangements have acquired greater rigour and are being used purposefully to challenge staff and take the school forward. Middle leaders now make an improved contribution to school development.

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The leadership and management are good

 Action plans inform strategic planning well. They have had a significant impact in raising pupils’ achievement in Key Stage 2, where targets for pupils’ progress have been met or exceeded in the last two years. Pupil premium funding is used well to narrow gaps.

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The leadership and management are good

 Systems for tracking the progress of different groups and individual pupils are firmly embedded to inform the curriculum and to guide teaching. These have been most effective in Key Stage 2, where there is more continuity in staffing and barriers to pupils’ learning are progressively reduced.

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The leadership and management are good

 Clear performance management arrangements ensure that staff are accountable for pupils’ progress and set firm expectations for the development of staff’s subject and leadership expertise. Staff have benefited from well-organised training opportunities and precise, detailed feedback to improve their practice. Morale and teamwork are good and staff work enthusiastically to promote pupils’ welfare and enjoyment of extra-curricular activities.

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The leadership and management are good

 The curriculum fosters pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development successfully. It ensures pupils’ good achievement and, overall, promotes equal opportunities well, especially for pupils with significant barriers to learning.

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The leadership and management are good

 Formerly, the local authority had to support the school intensively. Over time, this support has been effective. As the school has shown an increasing capacity for self-improvement, the authority’s involvement is now largely limited to ‘light-touch’ monitoring.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school’s procedures and strong partnerships with external agencies enhance the quality of safeguarding. All statutory requirements are met in this respect.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  has improved and is now good  acquires first-hand knowledge of pupils’ achievement through lesson observations and book sampling  has considerably increased its capacity to hold leaders to account, and has helped to ensure that the overall effectiveness of the school has improved since the last inspection.

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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 124040 Local authority Staffordshire Inspection number 402222

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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 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 298 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Dave Symons Headteacher Yvonne Fearn Date of previous school inspection 8 February 2010 Telephone number 01283 239146 Fax number 01283 239153 Email address office@victoria.staffs.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

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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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