King George V Primary School

King George V Primary School Beeches Road, West Bromwich, B70 6JA

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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 from all backgrounds achieve well in this rapidly improving school.  Pupils receive good-quality teaching and support, which are focused well on their needs.  The ways in which the school checks on how well pupils are doing are good. This is an important reason behind the school’s improvement.  Attendance is currently above average because of good systems for checking absence and encouraging pupils to attend regularly.  Staff have successfully created a positive, caring climate for learning where pupils feel valued as individuals, and their wide range of cultural backgrounds is celebrated.  Pupils behave well and feel very safe. They are proud of their school and are very good at working with their partners in lessons.  Good spiritual, moral, social and cultural development helps to raise pupils’ self-esteem and confidence.  The headteacher and deputy headteacher have provided stability during a period of staffing

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

changes.  Senior leaders work together very effectively as a team and are a major driving force behind the improvement in the quality of teaching and the year-on-year rise in attainment.  Governors support the school very well, and are strongly committed to ensuring further improvement.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Until recently, the school focused much of its attention on pupils who needed extra help. As a result, not enough more-able pupils have reached the higher levels they are capable of, particularly in mathematics in Key Stage 2.  The governing body has not been involved enough in checking on whether pupils are doing as well as they should.  Children in the nursery and Reception are not always given enough chances to develop their language skills. The activities children can choose from are not always demanding enough to help them make good progress.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 13 lessons, five of which were observed jointly with senior leaders.  Meetings were held with pupils, representatives of the governing body and local authority, and staff, including senior and middle leaders.  There were no responses to the online Parent View. Inspectors took into account the school’s own parental surveys and also spoke with parents and carers informally.  Inspectors observed the work of the school. They looked at a range of documentation, including information about pupils’ progress. They also looked at the school’s child protection and safeguarding procedures.

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Inspection team

Kath Campbell, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Lenford White Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 King George V is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  An above-average proportion of pupils are supported by the pupil premium, which provides additional funding for certain groups such as pupils known to be eligible for free school meals.  An above-average proportion of pupils are supported at school action, but a below-average proportion are supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs.  Nearly all pupils come from a wide variety of minority ethnic groups. Almost two-thirds speak English as an additional language.  No pupils are educated in alternative provision away from the school site.  There have been several staffing changes since the previous inspection.  The school meets the government’s floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Make sure more pupils reach higher levels, particularly in mathematics in Key Stage 2, by:  moving more-able pupils on to demanding work earlier in lessons  making sure that pupils know the next steps in their mathematical learning each time their work is marked  giving pupils regular opportunities to extend their key skills, particularly their mathematical skills, in different subjects.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Help children in the nursery and Reception to make better progress by:  taking every opportunity to develop children’s language skills  making sure children make as much progress when they select their own activities as when they work with an adult.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Strengthen the effectiveness of the governing body by:  devising a monitoring programme that helps governors to gain an accurate view of the impact of initiatives on pupils’ learning.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children enter the nursery class with skills that are well below those expected for their age. Many do not speak English as their first language. They make satisfactory progress but most do not reach the expected levels of understanding for their age by the time they enter Year 1.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils from all ethnic backgrounds make good progress throughout Key Stages 1 and 2. Thanks to consistently good teaching, the rate of learning accelerates towards the end of Key Stage 2. Attainment is rising at a rapid pace and is currently broadly average in reading, writing and mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils’ achievement in reading is good. The school teaches reading through letters and sounds (phonics) well. Some work with younger pupils is of outstanding quality. Pupils of all abilities make at least good progress because the planned activities give children the confidence to read independently from an early age. Pupils in the early stages of learning English achieve equally well because they receive a high level of individual help from bilingual adults.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Writing has been an ongoing area for development. The school’s initiatives for increasing the proportion of pupils reaching higher levels are proving effective, and pupils are beginning to produce high-quality written work in a range of different subjects.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 To some extent, mathematics has taken a back seat while the school has focused its attention on raising attainment in English. More-able pupils did not always do well enough. The recent introduction of a new way of teaching mathematics is starting to provide the right level of challenge.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 In the past, not enough was expected of pupils and checks on their progress were not rigorous enough. Historically, the attainment of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals has not been as high as that of other groups. Test results and current school data show that the gap is now closing because pupil premium funding is being used effectively to provide extra staff and resources, and these pupils are making good progress.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs do as well as other pupils. The range of special help, including the teaching of small groups in the classroom, makes sure that these pupils do not fall behind.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching is much improved since the previous inspection. Nearly all the teaching observed during the inspection was at least good, with some lessons outstanding and very few that required improvement.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers present lessons in a lively and interesting way. In the best lessons, teachers and other adults move learning along at a very rapid pace. In a Year 4 lesson, the teacher used songs very skilfully to help pupils remember the language of shape. There was a high level of challenge for pupils of all abilities, and more-able pupils moved on to harder work early in the lesson. This is not always the case and in a few lessons, particularly in mathematics, teachers talk for too long and more-able pupils spend time on work that is too easy.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Reading is taught well. Standards are rising because the school spends a lot of quality time on developing English language skills. Younger readers can be seen confidently working out unfamiliar words, and older pupils have a mature range of favourite authors.

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The quality of teaching is good

 In the nursery and Reception classes, staff take advantage of occasions such as snack time to talk with children. At other times, they sometimes miss opportunities to develop language skills further. When children choose their own activities, they do not always make as much progress as they could when these activities lack purpose and do not match their specific needs.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Highly-skilled adults who support teachers in the classroom make sure that disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs receive exactly the right kind of help they need to succeed. Pupils who are learning English make good progress because they respond particularly well to the individual support they receive when they are working in small groups.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The ways in which teachers check on pupils’ levels of understanding have improved greatly since the previous inspection. Pupils know their targets for improvement and enjoy being involved in assessing how well they have understood their work.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The quality of marking, although much improved, is not yet consistently high. In literacy, most teachers mark work very well and pupils are clear about what they need to do to improve. In mathematics, a few teachers do not always use marking to guide pupils, particularly those who are more able, to the next steps in their learning.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Nearly all pupils behave well. Pupils’ very positive attitudes and great enthusiasm for school make a strong contribution towards their good spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Children in the nursery and Reception classes gain good social skills because adults recognise the importance of developing this aspect of children’s learning right from the start.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Staff have established clear, consistent procedures for managing behaviour. Pupils get along well with adults and there is a strong feeling of mutual respect.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils value their own cultural backgrounds and are keen to learn about the wide range that exists within the school. Pupils from very different backgrounds work and play together with high levels of cooperation and appreciate each other’s success.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Several parents and carers talked about the school being a friendly, helpful and supportive learning environment. They are confident that their children are safe. Pupils show a good understanding of how to stay safe, including when using the internet and computers. Safeguarding procedures meet government requirements.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 In discussion, pupils say that incidents of bullying are very rare. They are confident that such incidents are dealt with swiftly and effectively to make sure that there is no recurrence.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The rise in levels of attendance is a real success story. Numerous incentives that encourage good attendance, and very tight monitoring procedures, have played a very important part in the above-average attendance figures.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher and deputy headteacher provide strong leadership. They have successfully steered the school through a period of staffing changes. They are reflective in their work and have an accurate, well-balanced view of the school’s strengths and weaknesses. Together with other senior leaders, they have created a good climate for learning.

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The leadership and management are good

 The ways in which the school measures the progress of pupils are good. Success is measured precisely by how much pupils’ attainment has risen.

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The leadership and management are good

 The checks carried out by senior leaders on teaching are detailed and rigorous. The headteacher uses these checks well to improve staff performance. A good example of this can be seen in the effective training that has led to improvements in the teaching of reading.

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The leadership and management are good

 Middle leaders, many of whom are new to their responsibilities, are developing a secure understanding of how well pupils are doing in their subjects. The new leader of the nursery and Reception, for example, has made a good start by reorganising the way in which the classes work together so that teaching is more consistent.

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The leadership and management are good

 The way in which the school teaches different subjects provides many positive learning experiences that contribute greatly to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. The school uses visits and visitors particularly well to support classroom work. A wealth of trips to places such as the British Museum adds greatly to pupils’ enjoyment of learning.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school provides many opportunities for pupils to extend their literacy skills, but not as many for pupils to develop their mathematical skills in different subjects.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school checks carefully on the progress of its disabled pupils, those with special educational needs and those who are new to learning English to make sure none of them falls behind. It successfully removes barriers to learning so that all pupils have an equal opportunity to succeed.

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The leadership and management are good

 Regardless of their circumstances, all pupils are given opportunities to participate fully in school life. For example, pupil premium funding is set aside to make sure all pupils can gain the experience of going on school trips and residential visits.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority knows the school well. It has provided strong support and has played an important part in bringing about improvement. The school improvement adviser reviews the work of the school regularly and makes sure appropriate training is organised when needed. A productive partnership with a local school has also helped the school to move forward.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  The governors support the school very well. The governing body has gone through a period of transition with a number of new members. As a relatively new team, they have shown determination in their efforts to make sure pupils do as well as they should. However, while they are aware of the quality of teaching and what is done to reward good teaching, the changes have meant that they have not been sufficiently involved in keeping an eye on whether pupils’ standards are high enough. Governors make sure that the school meets its statutory obligations relating to safe recruitment and the safeguarding of pupils. They keep their safeguarding training up to date, and monitor this aspect well. They have made sure that pupil premium funding is spent wisely by, for example, employing additional staff to help pupils at risk of not doing well.

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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 131223 Local authority Sandwell Inspection number 406422

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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 224 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Norman Hickson Headteacher Alison Matthews Date of previous school inspection 25 January 2011 Telephone number 0121 553 0060 Fax number 0121 553 0060 Email address enquiries@kinggeorgev.sandwell.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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