Wheelwright Lane Primary School

Wheelwright Lane Primary School Wheelwright Lane, Ash Green, Coventry, CV7 9HN

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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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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.  Children make good progress in the Reception Year because teaching for them is consistently good and sometimes outstanding. Effective leadership ensures all staff work together well.  Pupils of all ages do particularly well in reading and mathematics because these subjects are taught well in all year groups.  Learning is effective in nearly all Key Stage 1 and 2 lessons because teachers plan interesting and challenging tasks and skilled teaching assistants support pupils closely.  Behaviour is good in lessons and around school. Pupils feel safe because of the care shown by staff.  The acting headteacher has the confidence of everyone at the school and staff are highly motivated. Regular checks on teaching by the acting headteacher and checks on pupils’ progress by all staff are helping to raise standards.  The governing body is effective. Its good understanding of the school helps governors to

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

ask senior leaders searching questions about how well the school is doing. This contributes to the good capacity to improve.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Achievement in writing is not as good as in reading and mathematics. Relatively few pupils attain above average standards and written work is not neat enough.  Teaching does not help pupils to improve writing enough: marking does not always show how work could be improved.  Some staff with leadership roles are not involved sufficiently in checking on teaching to help identify and eliminate weaknesses.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 12 lessons taught by seven teachers. Two were joint observations with the acting deputy headteacher.  Meetings were held with the pupils’ council, a group of other pupils from Key Stage 2, two governors and staff with management responsibilities.  A meeting was held with a representative of the local authority to discuss the support and advice provided for the school.  There were six responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) by the end of the inspection. The inspectors also sought the views of parents and carers before the school day.  The inspectors observed the school’s work, and looked at a number of documents including the school’s own data on pupils’ recent and current progress, planning for school improvement, and records of checks on teaching and pupils’ progress.  Records relating to behaviour, attendance, and safeguarding were scrutinised.

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Inspection team

Joseph Peacock, Lead inspector Additional Inspector David Lewis Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is slightly smaller than the average-sized primary school. One in five pupils is from a minority ethnic background. Just over 10 per cent of pupils speak English as an additional language.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium, which is additional funding for children in local authority care, pupils known to be eligible for free school meals, and those who have a parent serving overseas in the armed forces, is below average.  The proportions of pupils supported through school action, school action plus or a statement of special educational needs are all broadly average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.  There have been three headteachers in the past two years. The acting headteacher will become the permanent headteacher in January 2013. The school has an acting deputy headteacher.

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Information about this school

 There is a privately run nursery, registered with Ofsted. It is inspected separately. Privately run before- and after-school care is available and this is inspected separately.  The school has partnership arrangements with a Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) School and a special school designated as a Science and Specialist College, both of which are next door to the school. Thirty five pupils from the College and a few individuals from the RNIB School join in with lessons regularly.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise standards in writing at Key Stages 1 and 2 by; - providing more opportunities to write in literacy lessons and in other subjects - ensuring that teachers have higher expectations for writing, particularly in Key Stage 2 - improving the neatness of written work - giving pupils clearer guidance when marking work on how they can improve it and giving them time to do corrections.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Broaden the leadership and management roles of teachers with subject responsibility to include checking on the quality of teaching, in order to ensure it is consistently good or better.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 When they join the Reception Year, children’s skills and understanding are typically below those of most children. This year, children are well behind in early writing, mathematics and social skills.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Consistently good teaching ensures routines are established quickly and children make good progress in all areas of learning. They were confident in role play; building Santa’s sleigh outside, working in Santa’s workshop, or answering the telephone in the busy post office. They used their understanding of number and space well to compare the price of Christmas parcels and found that the smallest was sometimes the most expensive. All were supported by skilled and conscientious teaching assistants and most children managed to write a letter to Father Christmas.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children in the Reception Year and beyond benefit from daily sessions to learn letters and the sounds they make (phonics) and learn to read successfully. All make good progress in reading because they have a range of strategies to read unfamiliar words, such as sounding out letters, or breaking up longer words. ‘Reading buddies’, guided reading sessions, and a well-stocked library help pupils appreciate the importance of reading.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 By Year 6, standards in English and mathematics are above average and most pupils make good progress from their starting points. Pupils’ progress in writing is slower than in reading and mathematics. Weaker writing skills are holding back attainment at the higher level in English and fewer attain the higher level in that subject than in reading and in mathematics. Handwriting is too often untidy and poor presentation is an issue for pupils of all ability levels.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Mathematics skills are promoted well. Effective strategies, such as the quick pace of mental mathematics sessions at the start of each lesson, give pupils confidence with numbers and standards are rising. All enjoy the competitive and fun element of solving mathematical problems linked to everyday situations. All pupils are doing equally well in mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The progress of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is good. In many lessons, these pupils and any from the Specialist College are supported effectively by skilled teaching assistants. Tasks are usually challenging and pupils concentrate well to finish work.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Individual help in lessons is targeted well towards pupils who are supported through pupil premium funding. As a result, almost all of these pupils are helped to maintain as good a rate of progress as other pupils. There is no significant gap between their attainment and that of other groups.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers expect pupils to achieve well and match work closely to the full range of ability levels. There is a good pace to learning in lessons and, because work is interesting, pupils’ have positive attitudes and behave well. Skilled teaching assistants support pupils learning closely. Consequently, pupils achieve well and are well prepared to move on to secondary school.

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The quality of teaching is good

 In a few lessons, the quality of teaching requires improvement. Occasionally, lesson introductions are too long and these limit the time pupils have to do their work. Lengthy whole- class teaching makes it difficult for some pupils to keep up, whilst others are not challenged sufficiently and lose interest.

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The quality of teaching is good

 In the Reception Year, staff plan exciting activities for children to enjoy both indoors and outside. Staff are very helpful and attentive, ensuring all children have the guidance they need to do well.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers check frequently and judge accurately pupils’ rates of progress. Most use the information well to plan relevant tasks for pupils of different abilities. Pupils know their targets for learning and keenly check their own progress. Marking is thorough, but does not always give pupils clear guidance on how to improve their work. Neatness is not reinforced in marking comments and so much of the work seen was untidy.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Pupils’ basic literacy and numeracy skills are usually developed well in lessons and in weekly homework tasks. Pupils use computers often to complete their work, which helps to develop information and communication technology skills. Teachers miss opportunities for pupils to write at length in some subjects.

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The quality of teaching is good

 In Key Stage 1, good teaching promotes pupils’ reading, writing and mathematical skills successfully. Standards vary from year to year, depending on the proportion of higher- or lower- attaining pupils, but effective teaching ensures all make good progress from their starting points.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Behaviour in lessons and around school is invariably good. Pupils are thoughtful and polite and this has a positive impact on the quality of learning and the environment in which pupils learn.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 In most of the lessons observed, pupils’ behaviour was good. A few ‘switched off’ when teachers talked for too long, but they did not disturb the concentration of others.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils are safe and enjoy coming to school. That is reflected in their consistently above-average attendance. Parents spoken to during the inspection agree that their children are happy and feel safe. All pupil councillors agreed that ‘Everyone fits in’ and said that ‘Teachers look after you really well.’

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils have no concerns about bullying and say it happens very rarely. All have a good understanding of different types of bullying, such as making racist comments, name-calling, and misuse of mobile ’phones.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 There have been no exclusions in the past two years, showing how well pupils behave. All pupils have a good knowledge and understanding of the school code of conduct and try to keep to their class rules, which successfully promote consideration for others.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Behaviour is managed consistently well and any cases of inappropriate behaviour are dealt with immediately and effectively by staff. Mostly, pupils sort out any disagreements by themselves successfully.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils are especially kind and considerate to pupils from the neighbouring schools who join in with their lessons and school activities. The partnership arrangements are successfully enhancing their social skills and developing understanding of disability.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 A good range of after-school clubs in sport, dance, computers, and music contribute well to pupils’ achievement and their spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development. Many pupils enjoy learning to play music and Year 4 performed confidently and well in assembly. Links to schools in France and Australia raise pupils’ cultural awareness. Religious studies and topics covering world religions give pupils a good understanding of their own and other faiths.

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The leadership and management are good

 The acting headteacher has inspired a strong incentive amongst staff to improve teaching and learning in order to raise standards. Senior staff support the acting headteacher very well to ensure the school runs smoothly and efficiently.

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The leadership and management are good

 A revised management structure has delegated new responsibilities to all staff with leadership roles. The staff with leadership roles evaluate pupils’ progress in detail, which supports the acting headteacher’s half–termly lesson observations. Other staff are beginning to observe teaching and, as a result, weaknesses are being eliminated and most teaching is good.

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The leadership and management are good

 Staff questionnaires show that all hold positive views about school. ‘We are all willing to improve our practice for our children’ is a typical comment. Professional development has a high profile with many training events aimed at improving quality and standards.

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The leadership and management are good

 Progression through the pay scale is linked closely to teachers’ performance in ensuring pupils’ successful learning and progress. The Teachers’ Standards, issued by the Department for Education and effective from September 2012, are used effectively in judging teaching quality. Support for newly qualified teachers ensures that their teaching is consistently good.

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The leadership and management are good

 Pupils’ attainment and progress are tracked closely throughout the school. That ensures prompt action is taken to help any pupils who are falling behind. The school does works hard to ensure all pupils have an equal opportunity to succeed and refuses to accept discrimination of any kind. The successful integration of pupils from the two neighbouring schools reflects accurately the school’s principles on inclusion and equality.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority judges this is an improving school and provides as much support as the school requests. Periodically, it checks the school’s performance to ensure it continues to improve.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school works well with parents and carers. Few responded to the online questionnaire, but those interviewed by inspectors were very positive about their children’s experience at school. All agreed that pupils are happy and virtually all said that they would recommend the school to others.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  All governors visit school regularly and find out for themselves how effectively the headteacher and staff are working. Records of meetings and visits show that they are effective in helping the school to improve, through support and by asking leading questions. The focus for their visits does not always link to identified, key priorities for improvement, thereby missing an opportunity to give senior staff another view of school improvement. Each year, the performance of the headteacher and all teachers is checked using information about pupils’ progress and standards achieved. Governors are appropriately trained, with those recently appointed either having attended training sessions or have sessions planned. Governors know how well the school’s performance compares with that of similar schools nationally. Financial resources, including pupil premium funding, are managed well. The additional teacher funded

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The leadership and management are good

through the pupil premium is ensuring that most pupils who are disadvantaged make good progress alongside others. The governing body has a good knowledge of child protection and safeguarding matters and all current national requirements relating to safeguarding are met.

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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 125510 Local authority Warwickshire Inspection number 403577

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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 220 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair David Grove Acting Headteacher Christine Browne Date of previous school inspection 18 June 2008 Telephone number 02476 364505 Fax number 02476 364581 Email address Browne.c@welearn365.com 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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