Greenfields Primary School

School report Salafi Independent School 472 Coventry Road, Birmingham, B10 9SN

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Overall effectiveness Adequate 3

Pupils’ achievement Adequate 3 Pupils’ behaviour and personal development Good 2 Quality of teaching Adequate 3 Quality of curriculum Adequate 3 Pupils’ welfare, health and safety Adequate 3 Leadership and management Adequate 3

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This school is adequate because

 While there is some good and outstanding teaching, there is not enough to enable all pupils to achieve well in all subjects.  In adequate lessons, pupils’ make adequate progress but the work is not matched sufficiently closely to their needs to enable them to make good progress.  Pupils’ learning lacks sufficient breadth in some areas of art, history and geography. Their writing skills are insufficiently developed throughout the school and their reading skills in Years 3 to 6.  The monitoring of the effectiveness of the curriculum and teaching by the senior school leaders has been insufficiently rigorous, resulting in pupils making uneven progress.  Although the trustees ensure that the school leaders and staff share the same commitment to strive for academic excellence, they do not have robust systems and criteria to hold the school to account in all aspects of its work.

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The school has the following strengths

 The leadership of teaching has recently improved. Teachers are eager to develop their professional skills.  Pupils make good progress in Islamic subjects throughout the school, reading in Key Stage 1 and science in Key Stage 2.  The Islamic curriculum is good and its ethos has a significant impact on pupils’ personal development. As a result, the school meets its aims to provide good spiritual and moral development, reflected in pupils’ good conduct, positive attitudes to learning, self- confidence, self-esteem and strong sense of identity and responsibility.

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Compliance with regulatory requirements

 The school meets schedule 1 of The Education (Independent School Standards) (England) Regulations 2010, as amended by The Education (Independent School Standards) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2012 (‘the independent school standards’) and associated requirements.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspection was carried out with half a day’s notice.  The inspectors observed 16 lessons taught by 16 different teachers and heard pupils read. Meetings were held with a trustee, senior leaders, teaching staff and pupils.  Documentation and policies, particularly relating to safeguarding, welfare, health and safety were scrutinised, as well as curriculum plans, lessons plans, teachers’ assessments and pupils’ work.  The inspectors also took account of the responses in 18 questionnaires completed by staff and 13 online questionnaires (Parent View) completed by parents and carers. They also spoke to some parents to collect their views.

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Inspection team

Michèle Messaoudi, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Flora Bean Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Salafi Independent School is a Muslim primary day school located in Small Heath, Birmingham. It opened in September 2002 to admit boys and girls aged from five to 11 years and is registered for 160 pupils. There are currently 160 pupils on roll.  All the families that send their children to the school are practising Muslims. These families have diverse cultural backgrounds including Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Black African, North African and European heritages. Most pupils are bilingual or at advanced stages of speaking English. No pupil has a statement of special educational needs.  Boys and girls are taught together in Years 1 to 3. In Years 4 to 6 they are taught separately by staff of the same gender as their pupils.  The school makes use of alternative provision for physical activities.  A board of trustees oversees the school’s work. The current headteacher took up his post in September 2013. The school was last inspected in October 2010.

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Information about this school

 The school aims to: ‘ensure children are inspired with a sense of virtue; to know and believe that sincerity, for the sake of Allah, honesty, respect, responsibility and courage is the only way for a good Muslim to be; the way to achieve this is by following the example of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), his companions, and the righteous of the generations that followed.’

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching so that pupils can make at least good progress in all subjects by:  providing teaching staff with a programme of professional development that is closely linked to the current priorities for improving the school  sharing the best teaching practices that exist in the school so that teaching is at least good in all lessons  ensuring that teachers always use the information from assessments to plan tasks that challenge pupils of differing abilities precisely  implementing strategies to further develop pupils’ reading and writing skills  further developing the skills of the teaching staff in assessing pupils’ progress including their ability to standardise and judge pupils’ work accurately  ensuring that teaching assistants are always deployed very effectively to extend pupils’ learning.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of the curriculum and enable pupils to achieve well in all subjects by:  ensuring that geography, history and art are taught in sufficient breadth  structuring the curriculum for reading and writing more effectively.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of leadership and management so that pupils can achieve well by:  developing the skills of the headteacher and the subject coordinators  improving clerical support for the headteacher  ensuring that trustees have better systems and clearer criteria for monitoring the effectiveness of policies related to pupils’ welfare, health and safety, and holding the school leaders to account for all aspects of school performance.

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Pupils’ achievement Adequate

Pupils’ achievement is adequate overall, although it is good in Islamic subjects. It is not good overall because pupils only make adequate progress in literacy and numeracy over time, despite pockets of good progress in some year groups. This is due to variations in the quality of teaching, and in the way teachers use assessments and interpret the curriculum. Also, pupils’ achievement in art, history and geography is adequate rather than good because their learning lacks breadth in these subjects. Improvements in teaching, and in leadership and management, are too recent to have yet a significant impact on pupils’ achievement. Subject coordinators have recently been appointed to improve the curriculum and raise pupils’ standards and are already actively addressing the main issues.

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Pupils’ achievement Adequate

Pupils join the school with varying skills and learning experiences, and thorough initial assessments give teachers a good picture of pupils’ competencies. This information is used effectively to set ambitious targets to help pupils to make good progress. However, these targets are not used consistently to plan work that matches individual pupils’ needs precisely enough, resulting in uneven progress, particularly in literacy and numeracy.

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Pupils’ achievement Adequate

Pupils make good progress in reading in Years 1 and 2 in relation to their starting points. However, this good rate of progress is not sustained from Year 3 onwards because the teaching of reading skills does not consistently focus on developing a good level of comprehension. Consequently, the needs of most pupils are not met sufficiently well and these pupils only make adequate progress in reading.

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Pupils’ achievement Adequate

The development of pupils’ writing skills is patchy throughout the school. Pupils are not routinely asked to rehearse their ideas with a partner before writing. They are not consistently guided, in lessons and through marking comments, to widen their vocabulary, expand on their ideas and write at length.

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Pupils’ achievement Adequate

Greater consistency in the teaching of Islamic subjects, coupled with a well-structured Islamic curriculum ensures that pupils make good progress in their memorisation of the Qur’an, their understanding of how to apply Islamic teachings to daily life and their personal development.

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Pupils’ behaviour and personal development Good

Pupils’ good behaviour and good personal development are underpinned by excellent spiritual and moral development with a strong Islamic ethos. Behaviour and personal development are not yet outstanding as there is scope for pupils to be more involved in initiating aspects of their learning. In addition, an aspect of their cultural and social development is only adequate.

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Pupils’ behaviour and personal development Good

The staff provide exemplary role models and consistently promote moral virtues. As a result, pupils are well-mannered, polite, considerate and respectful to others, and they display a strong sense of right and wrong, exemplified by the rarity of bullying incidents.

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Pupils’ behaviour and personal development Good

The staff follow the example of Prophet Muhammad in showing kindness and gentleness to children at all times and promote high standards of behaviour without admonishing pupils. When, occasionally, behaviour falls below the expected standards, teachers quietly remind pupils of the expectations, and pupils respond at once. Pupils’ enjoyment of learning is reflected in their regular attendance.

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Pupils’ behaviour and personal development Good

Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good overall, rather than outstanding, because the cultural and social strands are weaker than the spiritual and moral ones. Pupils develop very positive social skills and an appreciation of and respect for diversity by interacting daily with the multicultural staff and pupil population. Their awareness of different beliefs from theirs is raised adequately through the Islamic curriculum and occasional links with local Christian schools. Pupils develop a sound practical awareness of citizenship through the recently formed shura (consultation) council which is a forum for collecting their views on ways to improve school life. However, opportunities for service to the community are limited to raising funds for their school and local mosque and do not extend to the wider community. Pupils gain a good awareness of public institutions through the curriculum and educational visits, including visits from the local

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Pupils’ behaviour and personal development Good

police liaison officer who talks to them about safety in the community. The proprietors ensure that the school presents the pupils with balanced views.

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Quality of teaching Adequate

Teaching is adequate overall and enables pupils to make at least adequate progress. All staff share the same eagerness to improve their skills so as to secure the best possible outcomes for pupils. Between them, the teachers have a wide range of skills, expertise and experience and there is a significant minority of good and outstanding teaching. However, the best teaching practices that exist in the school are not shared sufficiently to increase the proportions of good and outstanding teaching. Also, while the programme of professional development has some good features, it is not linked closely enough to teachers’ training needs.

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Quality of teaching Adequate

Where the teaching is outstanding and good, it is underpinned by secure subject knowledge that lends confidence to the teaching style and enables teachers to be creative and provide highly stimulating lessons that challenge all pupils. In these lessons, all pupils are challenged consistently well through probing questioning and have the opportunity to initiate their own learning and lead that of others by being put in a teaching role.

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Quality of teaching Adequate

Adequate teaching is characterised by lessons that have a clear structure and objectives but do not sufficiently take into account the information from assessments to provide tasks that match pupils’ needs precisely. Also, these lessons are sometimes conducted at a pace that is too slow to ensure that pupils have sufficient time to cover a lot of ground, deepen their understanding and extend their skills. On occasion, pupils’ understanding of new concepts or acquisition of new skills is insufficiently consolidated during activities because teaching staff do not use questions that are demanding enough or do not check on pupils’ learning frequently enough. At times, teaching assistants are not deployed effectively to extend pupils’ learning. Consequently, in such lessons, pupils do not progress as fast as they otherwise could.

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Quality of teaching Adequate

Assessment is adequate. Its present form is new and is developing well. It is based on the national system of assessment and relies almost solely on teachers’ assessment. However, teachers’ assessments are not moderated internally and externally to ensure their accuracy. Procedures are being standardised to facilitate the tracking of pupils’ progress and involve pupils more deeply in the assessment of their learning.

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Quality of curriculum Adequate

While the curriculum is adequate as a whole and results in pupils’ adequate academic achievement, the Islamic curriculum is good and overall, supports pupils’ personal development well.

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Quality of curriculum Adequate

The Islamic curriculum is structured very effectively to give pupils the breadth and depth of knowledge they need to arrive at a good understanding of Islamic teachings centred on the example of Prophet Muhammad, his companions, and the righteous among those who made early Islamic history. The different strands of this curriculum are planned well to ensure good progression of learning. Pupils benefit from teachers’ specialist knowledge to learn well, the Qur’an, hadith and Salafi aqeedah (Islamic doctrine). The daily worship routines of salah (prayer) and du`a (supplication) enhance the curriculum extremely well because teachers are careful to emphasise the spiritual aspects of the rituals. Personal, social, health and citizenship education (PSHCE) is taught successfully through the Islamic curriculum. Extra-curricular activities, such as helping to run a local book fair extend pupils’ leadership, management and financial skills well.

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Quality of curriculum Adequate

There is a fairly good balance between Islamic and National Curriculum subjects. All the required areas of learning are covered, detailed schemes of work support the teaching and there are sufficient resources to teach all subjects. Specialist subject knowledge benefits the teaching of Arabic, mathematics, science and ICT. Pupils’ learning experiences are enriched by a reasonably wide range of educational visits. However, the curriculum is insufficiently well structured to teach reading and writing effectively as a seamless continuum throughout the school. The practice of streaming pupils across two year groups in numeracy has been introduced recently. There is some early evidence of improvement in standards as a result. The curriculum for art, geography and history, taught through project work and other subjects, lacks breadth in terms of knowledge and skills. As a result, most pupils only make adequate progress in these areas.

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Quality of curriculum Adequate

Recently appointed coordinators for Islamic and National Curriculum subjects are already remedying the weaknesses and seeking to further improve the good features.

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Pupils’ welfare, health and safety Adequate

Although the staff provide good day-to-day care, pupils’ welfare, health and safety are adequate rather than good because of a small number of minor deficiencies.

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Pupils’ welfare, health and safety Adequate

Very effective procedures for promoting good standards of behaviour and eliminating bullying result in parents and carers having full confidence in the school’s ability to keep their children happy and safe, and free from harassment. Pupils say they feel very safe and trust their teachers to deal with any concern they may have swiftly and effectively. There has been no need to apply serious sanctions. Pupils are taught internet and road safety and how to keep safe in the community. The low incidence of accidents reflects good supervision, the effectiveness of staggered play times and pupils’ awareness of others on the playground. Pupils adopt generally healthy lifestyles through PSHCE and physical activities and the school’s policy on banning unhealthy foods which for the most part works well. However, the consumption of foods high in fat and salt is not monitored sufficiently well.

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Pupils’ welfare, health and safety Adequate

Safeguarding arrangements meet requirements. The staff are supported effectively by the appropriate training in child protection, refreshed at the required intervals, and a sufficiently detailed safeguarding policy. All the adults working at the school are vetted rigorously and the required recruitment checks are recorded properly in a single central register. All the policies for child protection, anti-bullying, behaviour, first aid and health and safety have regard to the latest guidance and almost all are implemented consistently. Minor omissions in the first aid policy were rectified during the inspection. The number of staff trained in first aid is only just sufficient. The health and safety and fire safety risk assessments meet basic requirements. All the fire safety checks are carried out and logged at appropriate intervals and two teachers are trained as fire wardens. Registers are maintained properly and attendance and punctuality are monitored closely.

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Leadership and management Adequate

Leadership and management are adequate and ensure that pupils make adequate progress in their academic learning and good progress in the Islamic subjects, which supports their good personal development. The proprietors ensure that the main aims of the school and all the regulations for independent schools are met.

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Leadership and management Adequate

Trustees have weekly contact with the school and inspire a high level of commitment and aspiration for academic excellence in all staff. However, they do not have sufficiently robust systems to hold the school leaders to account for all aspects of school performance. As a result, the curriculum, teaching, pupils’ academic achievement and the provision for pupils’ welfare, health and safety are only adequate.

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Leadership and management Adequate

The leadership of teaching has recently improved with refined assessment systems and the appointment of subject coordinators. However, the latter are new to their roles and their skills are insufficiently developed. The headteacher has an accurate evaluation of the school’s strengths and weaknesses and a clear development plan to further improve the school. Although the headteacher has moved fast to initiate improvements, his work is currently hindered by lack of clerical support.

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Leadership and management Adequate

The teaching accommodation is only just adequate to enable effective and safe learning, and the proprietors are actively looking for better premises. Parents and carers receive the full range of information to which they are entitled. There are good quality termly reports to supplement pupils’ annual academic report. The complaints procedure meets requirements. While most parents would recommend the school to others, a few are not satisfied with the way the school responds to their concerns.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding A school which provides an exceptional quality of education and significantly exceeds minimum requirements. Grade 2 Good A school which provides a high quality of education that exceeds minimum requirements. Grade 3 Adequate A school which meets minimum requirements but needs to improve the quality of education it provides. Grade 4 Inadequate A school where minimum requirements are not met and/or the quality of education has serious weaknesses.

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School details

Unique reference number 133603 Inspection number 422756 DfE registration number 330/6103 This inspection was carried out under section 162A of the Education Act 2002, as amended by schedule 8 of the Education Act 2005, the purpose of which is to advise the Secretary of State for Education about the school’s suitability for continued registration as an independent school.

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School details

Type of school Muslim primary day school School status Independent School Age range of pupils 5–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 160 Number of part time pupils 0 Proprietor Salafi Bookstore and Islamic Centre Chair Abdul Wahid Alam Headteacher Mohammed Mousuf Ahmed Date of previous school inspection 19 October 2010 Annual fees (day pupils) £2,165 Telephone number 0121 772 4567 Fax number 0121 773 4882 Email address headteacher@salafischool.com guidance 'Complaining about inspections', 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.

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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

inspects to 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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