Coppice Junior School

Coppice Junior School Coppice Road, Solihull, B92 9JY

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 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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This is a good school. Select

 The headteacher, supported by senior leaders, has successfully developed greater ambition and drive for improvement across the school.  Parents are fully supportive and have assisted the school in their efforts. They encourage their children and they in turn achieve above- average standards and are keen to do even better.  Good and increasingly outstanding teaching makes sure that pupils’ progress across the school is good. Teachers make lessons demanding and fun, developing pupils’ interest in learning.  Due to good teaching pupils’ reading skills are above those expected for their ages.  Pupils’ social, moral, spiritual and cultural understanding is good.  Teachers and other adults who support them provide high-quality care. Pupils feel safe, have good behaviour, and understand how to stay safe and healthy.  The school provides a welcoming and stimulating place for all the pupils and staff to work.  The headteacher and governing body review

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This is a good school. Select

the quality of teaching and learning carefully to make sure that it continues to improve.  Pupils’ literacy and mathematical skills are developed well and pupils have plenty of opportunities to practise them in all the subjects they learn. Pupils’ achievement continues to improve

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Teachers do not consistently use ongoing assessment during lessons to make sure the work set is sufficiently challenging at all times.  Teachers do not provide enough opportunities for pupils to practise their skills on their own and/or to be involved in their own learning.  Teachers’ marking does not always provide pupils with enough information to always improve their work.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspection was carried out by three additional inspectors who visited 21 lessons taught by nine teachers. 10 of these lessons were joint observations with the head and deputy headteachers.  Inspectors observed and spoke to pupils during lessons and at lunch and break times. They met formally with a group of pupils.  Meetings were held with staff, senior leaders and managers, and governors. A meeting also took place with a representative from the local authority.  Inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at a range of documents, including arrangements for safeguarding, performance management, and attendance, information about pupils’ attainment and progress, and pupils’ books.  They took into account the 34 responses from parents and carers shown on Parent View (the online questionnaire), several letters from parents and responses from the staff questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Ronald Hall, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Kathryn Raftery Additional Inspector Edgar Hastings Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is a larger-than-average-sized school of its type.  The proportion of pupils supported through school action is below average.  The proportion of pupils who are disabled and those who have special educational needs, either at school action plus, or who have a statement of special educational needs, is average.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium, which provides extra funding for looked-after children, those from forces families and pupils known to be eligible for free school meals, is average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics.  The majority of pupils are of White British heritage, but the proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is above average.  There is a before and after school club, that is not managed by the school’s governing body.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise the quality of teaching further by:  ensuring that teachers consistently use the information they gain on pupils’ progress during the lesson to modify work to make sure it is continually challenging  providing more opportunities for pupils to practise their skills on their own and to be more involved in deciding what they learn and how.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Make sure that teachers’ marking always provides pupils with information to allow them to improve their work. Encourage pupils to respond to teachers’ marking comments to show that they understand how to improve their next piece of work.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils typically start school with skills and understanding that are above the levels expected nationally for their age. Pupils make good progress through Years 3 and 4 and this accelerates further in years 5 and 6.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 All groups of pupils make good progress across the school to reach standards of attainment that are well above average by Year 6. Achievement has improved steadily over the past several years, particularly in mathematics. Pupils’ reading skills at the end of Key Stage 2 are above average.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils who are disabled, those who have special educational needs and pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium progress at least at the same rates as their peers and in some cases, they progress quicker; equal opportunities are being promoted well in the school.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Those pupils who speak English as an additional language make good progress in line with their peers in school and achieve above their peers nationally.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 All of the parents who responded to Parent View agree that their children make good progress.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Achievement in mathematics and English was above average in 2012. Teaching has steadily improved resulting in pupils making quicker than expected progress in all years. This good progress is also apparent in pupils’ work. For example, pupils’ current work in Year 6 shows that they are on course to reach well above expected levels in both English and mathematics.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The quality of teaching was good or outstanding in almost every lesson observed. Pupils commented on how hard their teachers pushed them to achieve in lessons and these comments were echoed in letters from parents.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Since the last inspection there has been sustained improvement in the quality of teaching, which is evident in the school’s own meticulous monitoring. This improved teaching has led to accelerated progress for pupils, especially in Years 5 and 6. However, teachers do not continually monitor how well pupils are doing during lessons. This occasionally leads to them missing opportunities to modify lessons and so enable pupils to make even further progress than planned.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The school has examples of outstanding marking, where teachers provide pupils with clear advice on how to improve and pupil comments show their understanding of how to improve. However, this practice is patchy across the school and therefore opportunities are missed for all pupils to have this understanding.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers provide interesting and enjoyable lessons and pupils say they enjoy learning. However, teachers do not always provide enough opportunities for pupils to practise their skills on their own and/or involve the pupils in what they are learning or how.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The school has a clear focus on improving the teaching of mathematics; this has resulted in a marked improvement in attainment. In a good mathematics lesson on area, pupils explored how to find the areas of a range of geometrical shapes. The teacher explained well and encouraged discussion to make sure that all pupils understood what they were doing and how. The teacher and other adults present made learning engaging and fun throughout.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The quality of English teaching has been maintained and so achievement in English is above that expected nationally. Teachers have good subject knowledge and explain the learning carefully. This was clearly shown in a lesson on descriptive language, in which the teacher used her excellent subject knowledge to plan imaginatively and develop the pupils’ use of descriptive words well. Pupils used a wide range of words to describe the pictures they were given and challenged each other to use even better ones.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils are very positive about the school, how it looks after them and helps them feel and stay safe. Pupils state that behaviour is good and there is no disruption to lessons. A few of the parents who responded to Parent View felt that behaviour was not dealt with effectively but this view was not supported by other inspection evidence.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils were adamant that bullying of all kinds is almost absent and that any bullying incidents, or instances of poorer behaviour, are dealt with, very well, by adults. Pupils have a good knowledge of what is meant by cyber-bullying and say they have received a good understanding through information and communication technology lessons. Good relations are fostered between all groups of pupils because equal opportunities are so well promoted.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils have a good understanding of how to stay healthy and many lead healthy lifestyles outside of school.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school’s work with families is good and has been boosted by the appointment of a governor as parent/school liaison. This has helped to improve the social and emotional aspects of some learners whose circumstances may make them vulnerable. Persistent absence has fallen as a result, so that attendance continues to be above average.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Teachers have high expectations of how pupils should behave, and use reliable strategies for encouraging good behaviour. Pupils’ attitudes to learning are good and they generally concentrate well. However, where teaching is not as good some pupils lose concentration but do not disrupt lessons.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher has a clear and ambitious vision for the school which is shared by all the staff and governors.

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The leadership and management are good

 Senior leaders and managers check regularly on the quality of teaching and provide high-quality training and support to improve it where necessary. The headteacher has made key staff changes which have led to rapid improvements in pupils’ progress.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school carries out performance management effectively. Teachers’ training needs are carefully identified to enable them to improve their practice. Leaders model professional standards well; this has significantly contributed to the growing proportion of outstanding lessons being taught.  The monitoring of teaching and learning is diligent and accurate. This is carried out regularly by all senior leaders and has produced an accurate picture of where improvements may be needed. Teachers’ performance management is then clearly linked to their classroom performance and all teachers meet ‘Teachers Standards’.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school uses the pupil premium funding to supplement the good teaching with a range of carefully targeted and effective interventions to support pupils who may be at risk of falling behind.

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The leadership and management are good

 The creative and enthusiastic way subjects are taught encourages pupils to have a positive attitude for learning; it systematically builds on their reading and mathematical skills. It makes a strong contribution to pupils’ good spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils have an excellent understanding of right and wrong, take great pride in caring for others and have a good understanding of different religions and cultures.

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The leadership and management are good

 The senior leadership and management team are creating an innovative and imaginative curriculum. Innovations involving close links with other schools and enhancement days, like “Greek day”, which culminated in pupils enacting a battle scene, provide memorable experiences for all pupils. Pupils say how much they have enjoyed a wide range of visits and extra-curricular activities.

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The leadership and management are good

 Self-evaluation is good and all the key areas for improvement in the last inspection have been tackled effectively. This shows good capacity for further development.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority provides good support for the school through the ongoing training and specialist support the school commissions on a regular basis. The authority considers this to be a good school and so considers it a ‘light touch’ school.

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The leadership and management are good

 All safeguarding and child protection systems meet national requirements.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  The governing body includes people with enough experience to offer both challenge and support. Members of the governing body have a thorough appreciation of the strengths and weaknesses of the school, through regular, personal contact with the school. For example, governors have observed lessons and have worked with the headteacher to make careful appointments of well-qualified and able staff to help improve the quality of teaching. The governing body has discussed with the headteacher how the pupil premium money should be spent and are fully aware of the positive results it has achieved. The governing body also has a good awareness of performance management and why salary increments have been awarded. There is regular training for all governors to make sure that they are able to monitor the work of the school effectively, and make sure that safeguarding policies and practices

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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 104041 Local authority Solihull Inspection number 402933

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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 Junior School category Community Age range of pupils 7–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 274 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Russell Bryant Headteacher Julie McCarthy Date of previous school inspection 7 February 2008 Telephone number 0121 7053504 Fax number 0121 7058398 Email address office@coppice.solihull.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, please

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School details

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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