Westglade Primary School

Westglade Primary School Syke Road, Top Valley, Nottingham, NG5 9BG

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Satisfactory 3 This inspection: Requires Improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Requires Improvement 3 Quality of teaching Requires Improvement 3 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Leadership and management Requires Improvement 3

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This is a school that requires improvement. It is not good because

 Although many pupils’ attainment in English and mathematics has improved to be broadly average, some pupils are still not making the progress they are capable of in these subjects.  Pupils’ achievement in writing and mathematics is not consistently good enough across all year groups.  There is a trend for boys not to do as well as girls in English in Years 1 and 2.  Teaching requires improvement because teachers do not always have high enough expectations of what pupils can achieve.  Teachers are not consistent in how well they inform individual pupils about their next learning targets and what they must do to achieve them.  Leadership and management require improvement because procedures for checking and improving the quality of teaching are not as effective as they could be.  Pupils do not have enough opportunities to find things out for themselves, particularly by problem solving in mathematics or by using

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The school has the following strengths

 Pupils enjoy coming to school and feel safe and secure. Their attendance has improved since the previous inspection.  Leaders have made good strides to establish strong links with parents and other partnerships to benefit pupils’ learning.  Strategies to support the increasing number of potentially vulnerable pupils are having a positive impact on their personal and academic development.  The teaching of phonics (letters and the sounds they make) is enabling most pupils to make good progress in reading.  Pupils’ attitudes to learning and their behaviour in classes and around the school are consistently good.  The new ‘learning challenge curriculum’ is raising English standards across the school.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 14 lessons, eight of which were jointly observed with the headteacher. A number of small-group activities were also observed.  The inspectors talked to pupils, looked at their work in books and listened to them read.  The inspectors had meetings with senior leaders, curriculum coordinators and the special educational needs coordinator. The lead inspector also met with five members of the governing body and had an extended telephone conversation with a local authority representative.  Inspectors took account of the school’s recently conducted parental questionnaire. There were six responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, which is insufficient to formulate opinions. The team analysed 13 questionnaires completed by school staff.  Inspectors observed the school at work and looked at a range of documentation, including school development plans, the school’s information on pupils’ progress and attainment, the

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Information about this inspection

school’s evaluation of its own performance, reports on the school produced by the local authority. The team also looked at information on staff performance and records relating to behaviour, attendance, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspection team

Alan Giles, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Colin Lower Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Westglade is a smaller-than-average primary school, but with steadily rising numbers.  The Early Years Foundation Stage includes children in the Nursery and Reception classes. Other pupils are taught in one class per year group from Year 1 to Year 6.  The majority of pupils are from White British backgrounds. However, the proportion from minority ethnic groups has risen significantly recently and is now above the national average.  The number of pupils who speak English as an additional language is around average but there are 27 children in the school who have 14 different languages.  The proportions of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported through school action are well above average. The numbers supported through school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs, are below average.  The proportion of pupils eligible for the pupil premium is well above average. This funding is to

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Information about this school

support certain groups, such as looked after children and those known to be eligible for free school meals.  Since the time of the previous inspection, there has been significant staff instability and the senior leadership team has recently been restructured.  There is a recent trend for more than expected numbers of pupils joining or leaving the school other than at usual times. A large number of these pupils have complex behavioural and social needs.  The school meets the government’s current 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?

 Improve the quality of teaching to be consistently good or better by:  making better use of information about pupils’ progress to set work that is not too hard or too easy  improving the marking of books, especially in mathematics, so that it shows pupils what they have achieved and also what the next stages in their learning are.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase rates of pupils’ progress in writing and mathematics throughout the school by:  ensuring that all pupils use relevant and appropriate mathematical skills in practical and problem-solving situations  consistently sharing best teaching practices and provide further opportunities for pupils to write in lessons  making tasks in lessons more appealing to boys to raise their enthusiasm to write.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the impact and capacity of the leadership team and governors by:  making them more accountable for checking the quality of teaching, with a sharper focus and more accurate judgement on the achievement of different groups of pupils in lessons  more effectively evaluating the information gathered about pupils’ progress to help teachers increase the levels of challenge in lessons  making sure that governors hold leaders fully to account and set rigorous targets for improving teachers’ performance.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Most children start in Reception with skills and understanding below or sometimes well below those typical for their age. Between 2012 and 2013, they did not make good enough progress and started Year 1 with skills that were still below average.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Reception and Year 1 children are presently making good progress and a many more pupils are on track to achieve the standards expected for their ages. This is because teachers now have a clearer view of what pupils are capable of achieving.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The 2013 results for Year 2 pupils show girls making outstanding progress in reading and good progress in writing and mathematics. Results for boys were not as strong in English and mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The improved results of the 2013 check on phonics (the sounds that letters make) reflect the improving reading standards and the good progress most Year 1 pupils are making.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Year 6 test results for 2013 have maintained good levels of achievement in English, with further improvement in writing standards. These pupils did not make good enough progress between Year 2 and Year 6 in mathematics, with girls performing less well than boys.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 There is well-tailored support for disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs and for those pupils who are supported through the pupil premium. The 2012 test results showed many of these pupils made outstanding progress, but not all have made good enough progress in 2013 because teachers are not using up-to-date information of pupils’ recent achievements to provide sufficiently challenging work and accelerate progress further.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Measures to close the attainment gap for pupils supported by the pupil premium were less successful in 2013 compared with 2012. These pupils were approximately two terms behind the others in the school in English and mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The growing numbers of pupils from minority ethnic groups, including those who speak English as an additional language, make good progress because of well-targeted provision.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The school provides alternative daily curriculum provision for a small number of pupils who have severe behavioural needs or are considerably behind their peers in English. This provision is improving pupils’ confidence and their personal and academic development.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching requires improvement because collected information on pupils’ progress and predicted targets are not used effectively enough throughout the school. Teachers do not have high enough expectations of what pupils are capable of achieving, and they sometimes set work that is too easy.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Many teachers plan relevant activities to meet the needs of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs. However, information about their progress is not always shared quickly enough by leaders to ensure they make consistent progress.  Pupils are not always well informed, including through the marking in their books, as to what they need to achieve in lessons and the steps they need to take to accomplish this.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers are planning and organising their lessons well, with an emphasis to improve pupils’ thinking skills. However, when pupils are given the choice to choose from a list of tasks this too often results in the work being too easy or too difficult for them.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 In some mathematics lessons, teachers give unnecessarily long explanations and delay pupils from working on their own on more relevant tasks. There are also too few opportunities for pupils to apply their skills and understanding in investigative and problem-solving tasks.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Pupils talk of their enjoyment of the exciting lessons planned by their teachers, especially through the recent introduction of the ‘learning challenge curriculum’. The range of topics covered is improving the communication and thinking skills of pupils but not always successfully engaging boys with extended writing challenges.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Displays in classrooms and corridors celebrate learning well and are used as prompts for new learning. Information and communication technology is generally under-used, especially as a resource to develop pupils’ research skills.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Some attempt has been made to identify and share the best teaching standards throughout the school, for example in ‘literacy master-classes’, and this is leading to improvements in writing. This was observed in an outstanding Year 5 literacy lesson when pupils were challenged to make their writing more interesting using verbs and clauses.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers have very positive relationships with their pupils and care for them exceedingly well. Because of this, pupils respond positively to teachers’ requests and nearly always try their best.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers explain new learning well and use good questioning techniques. They encourage pupils to discuss their learning, to read aloud and to review each other’s work. This is having a positive impact on developing positive learning attitudes.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils enjoy school, and the older children comment on how the school has improved and that lessons are now more interesting. These attitudes are reflected in a trend of much improved attendance figures, which are above the national average this term.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils state they feel safe and know how to be safe. They understand the different kinds of bullying, including cyber-bullying, and know how to deal with them. They say that their teachers deal with isolated incidents very well.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Excellent support helps some of the most vulnerable pupils in school to improve their behaviour, confidence and self-esteem. In a recent questionnaire, all parents commented very positively on how well the school works with them to support their children’s learning.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 No disruptive behaviour was seen in lessons or around the school. Records show a significantly reducing number of incidents of unacceptable behaviour.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school is a very caring and cohesive community, regardless of ethnicity, faith, social or cultural backgrounds. Lessons on the work of Nelson Mandela reflected this positive school ethos and showed how pupils celebrate all aspects of the school’s diverse, cultural existence very well.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils are polite, respectful and courteous to each other and adults. All parental returns to questionnaires confirm that the school encourages children to care for each other and develop a sense of responsibility.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 When teachers do not organise activities in lessons that are interesting or relevant, pupils lose interest and this affects the progress they make. This was observed in a Year 6 mathematics lesson, where pupils’ attention drifted because they did not understand the teachers’ instructions or the relevance of them to their learning.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leadership and management require improvement because leaders and managers do not undertake rigorous enough monitoring of teaching and learning to check the impact of school improvement initiatives. They do not analyse the progress pupils make in sufficient depth to raise teachers’ expectations and give clearer steps for improvement.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Information about pupils’ progress is beginning to be used to create a greater focus on the need to accelerate some pupils’ progress. However, this information is still not evaluated quickly enough to deploy staff to accelerate the progress of these pupils across all year groups.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The headteacher has given a very strong lead to meet recent challenges. Staff have worked well together to develop the ‘Westglade Way’, which offers highly specialised and effective support to meet the needs of a wide range of pupils with complex learning needs.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school has developed good relationships with parents in recognising their critical roles in relation to improving attendance and giving support to their children’s learning at home. Parents say that teachers give individual help to their children when they need it.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The newly introduced ‘learning challenge curriculum’ provides many creative learning opportunities for pupils and has a strong focus on reading, writing and communication. It takes into account a range of questions and self-initiated tasks to involve pupils more successfully in their learning.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school is spending its primary school sport funding on additional resources, including specialist teaching, to improve this aspect of the curriculum. It has plans to evaluate the effectiveness of this work.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school has a positive and welcoming atmosphere where all pupils are valued equally. There are no signs of discrimination and all pupils have access to the full range of activities.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school makes a strong contribution to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development because staff focus so strongly on the development of personal skills to help pupils to become good citizens. Pupils are encouraged to be reflective and consider the needs of others and they have many opportunities to increase their awareness of other cultures and traditions.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The local authority, including the behaviour support team, supports the school effectively towards its goals. As a result, the school is fast developing expertise in dealing with pupils who have a wide range of social, emotional and behavioural needs.  The governance of the school:  The governing body is not fully challenging the wider aspects of the school’s work to evaluate its strengths and weaknesses to improve pupils’ achievement.  A recent external review of the governing body identified issues for improvement and an appropriate development plan is in place to help it to move forward.  Its work is helped by the detailed information it receives from the school, including performance data about pupils’ attainment and progress linked to national expectations.  Governors do not make enough use of their own expertise to manage the performance of teachers, or set sufficiently rigorous and relevant targets.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The governing body makes sure that all safeguarding arrangements meet current requirements.  Governors oversee the arrangements for the spending of the pupil premium and are aware of the impact this has had on pupils’ achievement.  They are aware of the recent development plan to use specialist teaching staff, paid for with the new sports funding grant, to improve provision for physical education across the school.

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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 131006 Local authority Nottingham Inspection number 425038

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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 210 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Ann Priestley Headteacher Jayne Parker Date of previous school inspection 28 February 2012 Telephone number 0115 9157515 Fax number N/A Email address admin@westglade.nottingham.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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