Joseph Turner Primary School

Joseph Turner Primary School Powis Avenue, Tipton, DY4 0RN

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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.  The headteacher, senior team and governing body take a strong lead in driving improvement. Rigorous checks on teaching, with good training and support where it is needed, maintain the quality of classroom practice and improve achievement.  Teaching is good and sometimes outstanding. Teachers provide lively and exciting tasks that enable pupils to build their learning step by step.  The spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of the pupils is at the centre of the school’s work.  Pupils’ behaviour is good both in lessons and around the school. They are polite and welcoming, and keen to talk positively about their school.  Pupils’ achievement is good. They make good progress, especially in mathematics, from well below expected starting points.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Staff do not always give enough opportunity for pupils to write longer pieces of work in subjects other than English.  There are weaknesses in pupils’ spelling and punctuation.  Teachers comments, when marking pupils’ books, do not consistently help them to improve their work.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed parts of 18 lessons, three of which were observed jointly with members of the senior leadership team. Inspectors listened to several pupils read and looked at samples of their recent work.  Meetings were held with the headteacher, teachers and members of the governing body. The lead inspector had a discussion with a representative from the local authority. Discussions also took place with mixed-ability groups of pupils.  Inspectors scrutinised a variety of school documents, including: the school’s self-evaluation; the school development plan; behaviour records; and documents relating to the work of the governing body and the management of teachers’ performance.  The views of the 21 parents who responded to the online questionnaire, Parent View, were taken into account, together with an email from a parent. Inspectors also considered the views expressed in 31 questionnaires returned by school staff.

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Inspection team

Steven Cartlidge, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Michael Appleby Additional Inspector Carolyn Wood Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is larger than the average-sized primary school.  Most pupils are White British. The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds and those speaking English as an additional language is below average.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported through school action is above average. The proportion of pupils supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is also above average.  An above-average proportion of pupils are eligible for the pupil premium. This is extra funding from the government for pupils in local authority care and those known to be eligible for free school meals.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards for primary schools, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.  The headteacher was appointed in September 2012.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the consistency of teaching so that it is good or better in all lessons by making sure that:  the quality of teachers’ written comments in pupils’ books assists pupils in improving their work  staff allow more opportunities for pupils to write lengthier pieces of work in subjects other than English  pupils’ writing, particularly spelling and punctuation, improves.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children start in both Nursery and Reception classes with skills well below those expected for their age. All have good attitudes to learning and this has had a positive impact on their progress, with the majority over time making good or better progress and reaching a good level of development. Due to the strong focus on teaching the skills of early reading and writing, children are well prepared for Year 1.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 At the time of the previous inspection, pupils’ standards were below average in Key Stage 1 and average in Key Stage 2. In 2013 standards improved in Key Stage 2 to above average but remained below average by the end of Key Stage 1. This is because historically teaching has been weaker in Key Stage 1.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Since the appointment of the new headteacher the school has improved the use of assessment information to track the progress made by individuals and groups. This has helped identify which pupils need support and improved the overall rate of progress made.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Standards are now above expected levels for many of the pupils. Progress in years 1 to 6 is good for all groups, including pupils of different abilities and from different backgrounds. The school’s information, based on accurate internal assessments of how well pupils are progressing, suggests that pupils are on track to achieve even better results in 2014.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils are well motivated and keen to achieve well in the large majority of their lessons, resulting in good progress. For example, in a Year 6 mathematics lesson pupils displayed great enthusiasm sharing with their classmates their mathematical skills in interpreting line graphs. They then became totally engrossed in small groups, where they identified and corrected their own mistakes.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 In recent years standards in reading have not been as high as those in other areas. The school has been involved in various initiatives and recent school information on progress in reading suggests a much stronger picture with the vast majority of pupils now reading well for their age.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs receive specific additional help in lessons on an individual basis. Effective use of teaching assistants successfully help pupils grow in confidence and make good progress.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The school is making very effective use of its pupil-premium funding. Additional tuition, more- focused teaching assistant time, and funding for more additional educational resources are helping these pupils to make good progress. In 2013, eligible pupils were about a term behind their classmates in reading and writing and around six months behind in mathematics. However, current information shows that this gap is closing rapidly and eligible pupils are making the same good progress as their classmates.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The school has started using the new primary school sports funding by employing a sports coach and a dance coach. Pupils are already talking enthusiastically about the new sport activities available at lunch time and after school, but it is too early to evaluate the impact of these initiatives on developing healthy lifestyles and better physical well-being for pupils.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The vast majority of teaching observed during the inspection was good or better, and pupils’ good progress and achievement show that good teaching is typical.

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The quality of teaching is good

 In the Early Years Foundation Stage, children benefit from challenging activities when led by a teacher or when they make choices in the outside area. During the inspection, children had the chance to play with zoo animals. Using their imagination and working co-operatively, the children were asked to talk about a crocodile story they had recently heard. Because the activities interested the children, their language developed well. The strong emphasis on promoting speaking and listening is also having an excellent impact on children’s skills and progress.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers’ subject knowledge is good. Teachers provide a range of tasks that motivate their pupils and encourage them to want to succeed. Pupils are also keen to live up to the expectations of the adults around them and this helps them to make good progress. This was particularly noticeable in an information technology lesson, where pupils in Year 4 had the opportunity to practise their computer technology skills. The pupils gradually added more and more complex instructions to their computing problems and showed a clear understanding of the strategies needed to develop their work to reach the highest level.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers and teaching assistants work together effectively and the help they give is matched well to the accurate assessment they make of pupils’ learning needs. This means that all abilities, including disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs and the most able, make good progress in all subjects.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The headteacher and acting deputy headteacher are now holding teachers more rigorously to account and the help they have given teachers is starting to increase the rate of learning. For example, in a Year 4 English lesson on making inferences from a text, pupils made good progress in their understanding because the teacher used questions very well to prompt them to think of alternative ways of working out the writer’s intention. The pupils then had the confidence to work out more challenging inferences from the text correctly.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers provide high-quality constructive feedback to pupils verbally but written feedback, in the form of marking, varies. In the best practice, teachers’ written comments, which show pupils what they need to do to improve their work, often contribute to the progress that pupils make. Older pupils value this kind of feedback. However, this approach is not yet consistent across the school.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The quality of pupils’ writing, particularly handwriting and the amount of work they do, is improving across the school. However, some pupils make repeated spelling errors or are not using correct punctuation. Teachers and learning support assistants are not always checking enough to help pupils correct their mistakes while these are fresh in pupils’ minds. Also in some classes, pupils are not being given the opportunity to write at length, other than in English, and this is hampering their progress, particularly in writing.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Homework consolidates and extends learning well. Pupils complete homework to a good standard and this gives them a strong platform for tackling work in the following lesson.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The behaviour of pupils is good. They settle quickly in lessons and are prepared to cooperate with their teachers when asked to perform any learning activities. For example, in a physical education lesson Year 5 pupils were able to develop their verbal skills by working with a few others following exactly the instructions from their teacher and two sports coaches.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Good behaviour was seen by inspectors at break and lunchtimes and pupils were keen to point out that this was typical behaviour.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. The school has a positive and caring atmosphere and pupils say they feel safe in school and their parents agree with that view.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Staff have created a strong anti-bullying culture throughout the school. Pupils say that there is almost no bullying in the school and that they are very well supported on the rare occasions it occurs. They are well informed about different forms of bullying and other aspects of safety, including internet safety.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school works effectively to maintain good behaviour and attendance, and there are clear procedures in place to monitor and support pupils who have difficulties in these areas.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Attendance, over the last three years, has been above average. Leaders are effectively maintaining this position and are focusing on families who struggle to get their children to school, making clear the effect absence has on their children’s progress and attainment.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils’ work is usually neatly presented, and pupils take pride in themselves, their school uniform and their school.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Behaviour and safety are not outstanding because in a small number of lessons, not all pupils display consistently enough a thirst for knowledge and a love of learning. This means they do not fully apply themselves to their work.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils conduct themselves well. They are polite and courteous to visitors. They willingly talk to adults and are open about their feelings about the school. The school promotes positive relationships between pupils, and they get on well together.

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The leadership and management are good

 Teachers and governors are ambitious for the school to do well. The headteacher provides very determined leadership, promoting a clear focus on continual improvement and offers teachers and parents a clear vision for the future. Subject leaders and other staff with leadership responsibilities are well supported.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher’s rigorous analysis of pupils’ progress and his accurate checks of the school’s work give all teachers and the governing body a clear understanding of the school’s performance, including in the Early Years Foundation Stage. This means that improvement planning is sharply focused on identified weaknesses. This is seen, for example, in the successful action recently taken to raise attainment in reading and mathematics and shows the school’s capacity for continued improvement.

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The leadership and management are good

 The leadership of teaching is good and the school places a high priority on improving teaching through good quality training. Teachers’ performance is checked and information is used from lesson observations and from information about pupils’ progress to set teachers’ targets for improvement. There is a clear understanding that decisions about promotion and pay rates will be based on the impact of teaching on pupil progress.  Pupil-premium funding is used effectively and has helped develop the role of teaching assistants. Pupils identified in need of additional support, including those eligible for pupil premium funding, disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, are well supported. The school evaluates its expenditure on the supported provided by collecting information which shows that pupils are making similarly good progress to their classmates.

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The leadership and management are good

 School leaders ensure that different groups of pupils have an equal chance to succeed, and they tackle any instances of discrimination effectively.

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The leadership and management are good

 The broad range of topics and subjects taught promotes a positive attitude to learning in pupils across all subjects and this leads to pupils achieving well. Pupils’ learning is enhanced through various clubs and out-of-school activities.

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The leadership and management are good

 Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is a strength of the school, epitomised by a Year 5 religious education lesson, where pupils spoke confidently and accurately about Wudu as part of their Muslim customs and traditions course.

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The leadership and management are good

 Primary school sport funding is being used to employ a sports coach and dance coach. In the early part of the school year, the school organises various sports and dance events and encourages all pupils in Years 1 to 6 to join in.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority is fully aware of the school’s strengths and areas for development and has worked well with senior leaders.

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The leadership and management are good

 The Parent View responses indicate that parents have a very positive view of the school, with a huge majority of those who responded saying they would recommend the school to another parent.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  The governing body is well informed. It challenges school leaders and holds them to account for students’ achievement. It compares the school’s performance with that of schools nationally. Governors also strongly support the school and its leaders. They understand the headteacher’s vision for the school’s further improvement and value his leadership. They have a deep insight into the quality of teaching and its impact on students’ learning because, for example, they visit the school regularly during the day and talk to both teachers and students about their work. They manage the performance of staff effectively and are rigorous in ensuring that the salary increases are justified by students’ good progress and achievement. Governors check carefully on the use of additional funds from the pupil premium in improving the achievement of eligible students. Explanation and action from school leaders and

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The leadership and management are good

managers are called for when performance does not advance as intended. The governing body oversees the management of finance and resources expertly. Governors rigorously check safeguarding practice and, as a result, safeguarding procedures meet current legal requirements.

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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 103970 Local authority Sandwell Inspection number 432256

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School details

This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act.

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School details

Type of school Primary School category Maintained Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 400 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Janet Poxon Headteacher Richard Workman Date of previous school inspection 2 March 2011 Telephone number 0121 5578733 Email address headteacher@josephturnerprimary.me.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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